


Domus Defunctorum (or House of the Dead)

by D_OShae



Series: Wizarding World War of the Z [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, World War Z - Max Brooks
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-30
Updated: 2018-03-30
Packaged: 2019-04-15 00:09:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 45,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14147625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/D_OShae/pseuds/D_OShae
Summary: The Z war rages and the magical world takes the brunt of it. Life on the ground while being hunted by zombies is not easy. For some witches and wizards a day-to-day struggle to live ensues. It takes accumulated bravery and cunning, and a fierce willpower to avoid using magic whenever possible, to find any form of safety.





	1. Chapter 1

Dennis giggled as he sat against the wall. He knew such a reaction to be inappropriate, but it happened nonetheless. As he snickered Dennis jiggled one knee at a rapid pace since he fully expected the small band of undead to clamber over the wall at any time. The old stone and mortar barrier did not look like it would hold for long, and he could hear zee fists and hands slapping against it. He chuckled again.

“And what the hell is so damn funny?” Oliver grumbled at him.

“Just nerves,” Dennis admitted.

Not only did Oliver Wood stare at him in a manner akin to disbelief, but his little brother, Ronin, and Rose did as well. Of the four of them, Dennis rarely showed any overt fear. The thin, some might say gaunt, man with the wild thatch of strawberry blonde hair seldom seemed to lose nerve. Dennis stared back at them, and then laughed again.

“Do nah do this noo, Denny!” Oliver Wood grumbled at him, his Scottish brogue coming to the fore in a more pronounced manner.

“We need to get out of here, but they'll follow, you know that,” Dennis rejoined as the ridiculous smile played across his lips. Because his nerves all but audibly twanged, he winked at Ronin simply to vent to some of the tension.

Ronin rolled his eyes and looked away. Dennis found Ronin quite handsome, even though he bore a strong family resemblance to Oliver, but did not consider a mark against him. The infatuation began long ago at Hogwarts during the horrific reign of Dolores Umbridge as head mistress of the school. Dennis never seemed able to get the attention from Ronin in the manner he wished. Of course, Dennis also spent considerable energy trying to woo Seamus Finnigan who completely ignored him. He laughed as the thoughts rolled through his head.

“Dennis, did you even have a plan when you came out this way?” Rose half-yelled at him, her gray-blue eyes flashing with anger.

“We need to get into the armory museum down the lane,” Dennis rattled off at a fast pace. “They've got weapons in there we can use. You know how these zed like magic, so we're pretty much done in 'les we get there and get all of you something better to fight with!”

No one needed to make that point a second time. For months Oliver and Ronin teamed up with Dennis when they ran into him outside of Broxburn after escaping Edinburgh. The creatures, whom Dennis heard the Americans call zee, but he change to zed, seemed to come out of nowhere and invade the city. Once Dennis and the Wood brothers identified one another, Dennis learned a pack of zed came through Oliver's fireplace. It told him in no uncertain terms the flue network got contaminated. He and the brothers then spent months circling the city while more and more undead populated the region. Rose Zeller, a recent addition to their band, knew very little about fighting the monstrosities.

“That's well and good for you, Denny, 'cause you know how to wield the bloody things!” Rose snapped back.

“Ye're gonna need ta learn,” Oliver chimed into the brewing argument. “Each time we use oor wands, them manky mingers git ragin' fierce!”

Dennis noticed that in high-pressure situations Oliver tended to turn more Scottish by the second. Fortunately his younger brother did not and often time served as a translator. Ronin sidled up closer to Ronin and nudged his shoulder.

“The zed get angry quickly,” Ronin told him, and the lilt of his accent could never rival that of his brother.

“True that,” Dennis agreed loud enough for everyone to hear, “and a good sword like this one worth its weight in galleons. You can use an axe or halberd or glaive or anything and it will be better than that tennis racket, and that's why we need in that armory.”

They watched the only woman in their team stare at the tennis racket in her hands. See seemed overly attached to it regardless of the number of times her three male companions warned her it would not suffice. 

“Denny, I never said I'd come back into the city!” Rose rounded on him, making an argument better suited for the day before.

“Bullocks!” Ronin shot back. “Ye knew all along what we planned and ye could've left at any time. No one made ye come along for this bit.”

Behind them the undead began to moan and growl. It meant trouble for the group if they did not move since the sound tended to draw a larger crowd of zed. Dennis hopped into a crouch and held out his sword. The edge gleamed despite the dark stains.

The sword came from a house in Stanhope west of where he lived in the upper part of Eastgate in the North Pennines. Dennis went rummaging for a new weapon in the abandoned and destroyed homes when the zed marched through. Rumor followed that the mass of undead came in from Carlisle and New Castle in the north and in the west and Leeds and York in the south. The number of creatures swelled with every mile they advanced. Dennis learned from his first encounter the zed tended to fancy witches and wizards as a meal above muggles. He also saw what happened when the people of isolated North Pennines wizarding communities tried to use magic to beat back the swarms. The zed grew increasing hostile and, as a result, attacked with greater ferocity. Entire villages got consumed in a matter of hours.

“Can't beat a sword for lopping off their heads,” Dennis said as he admired the sixteenth-century blade of a rather interesting and unique design.

“I'll take my maul any day,” Oliver said. “Now, how is we gonna get oot of this spot?”

Dennis thought for a moment and the idea blossomed in his head. He looked at his compatriots and said: “In through the back of the building next to us, up to the second floor and into the attic. Then we use Ollie's maul to punch a hole in the ceiling and crawl over to the armory on the roofs. Sound good?”

“You want us to get trapped in building?” Ronin asked half a second before the others.

“Nah, you know the zed can't climb to well... at least ladders. Once we're in the attic, we're golden.”

“Ye're daft, Denny, know that?” Oliver rumbled.

“What if these things are in the building?” Rose joined in and did not sound pleased.

“Course they're in the building, Rosie...”

“Don't call me that! Only Wills got to call me that!”

Dennis felt bad for three seconds. She told him repeatedly not to use that nickname. All he learned from Rose, who he remembered as Rose Zeller in school, came in fits and starts over the preceding month. She appeared reluctant to say exactly what happened, but the group learned she lost her new husband at their house in Hethpool-at-St. Cuthberts. The undead invaded their home en masse. She escaped the house and managed to make it to Edinburgh, but only found a brief respite before discovering the zed practically controlled the city.

“Right, Rose, sorry,” Dennis apologized, and then his brain rapidly switched topic. “They might have vending machines in these places, 'specially the museum since it's all public like.”

“Cripes, I could use some scran,” Oliver muttered, but then he assumed a crouching position as well. “May not be the best of plans, Denny, but soonds like ye gave it thought. Ye lead and we'll back ye up.”

It sometimes appeared Oliver liked to hide behind Dennis. Granted, he thought, no one wanted to be in front of him when he started swinging his sword. Oliver already bore a nasty gash on his left shoulder for making that mistake. As Dennis stood while grabbing his backpack, he saw the look of trepidation on Rose's face. Ronin did not seem very convinced as well.

“Or you can stay here and end up as din-din for these rotting codgers,” he offered the most likely scenario if the dawdled too long.

Ronin immediately assumed a crouch, and Rose followed suit. The zed continued to pound against the stone wall giving them temporary sanctuary. Two undead lay decapitated in the blind alley further ahead. An overturned lorry blocked the path into the alley, and within the enclosed space the foursome found a moment's safety from the zed. However, they all knew it would not last. If enough of the undead arrived, they would make a ramp out of themselves and come tumbling over the lorry or the wall.

“Ro, since you're left-handed, you take the left flank with that bat of yours. Ollie, take the right. Rose, stay close behind me,” Dennis said and none argued with the assignments.

It never failed to surprise him when people accepted his orders. Dennis never hid the fact he primarily ran on gut instinct for his plans, yet most of the time the impromptu schemes worked. He privately feared for the day when his luck evaporated. In the meanwhile, he got the brothers to adopt leather jackets and heavy canvas builder's pants, along with confiscated military boots, since the apparel offered a modicum of protection from bites and scratches. He did not tell his friends, but Dennis also hoped to find chain maille in the armory to boost the protection factor of the clothing. Plus he also thought Ronin would look very dashing in chain maille.

“Good, now, Rose, warn us if you see any coming up from behind,” he instructed her.

“Don't worry 'bout that. My screams will give it away,” she dryly rejoined.

“You might want to figure out a different method,” Ronin said, and his brother nodded in agreement. “Tends to attract more of 'em, see?”

“Do you know what go fack yourself means? If not, ask your brother,” Rose spat at Ronin and used a very Scottish word.

Dennis and Oliver tried to hide their laughter, but only Oliver succeeded. Rose shot Dennis a nasty glance. Oliver turned away as fast as he could. With the arrangements and insults concluded, Dennis rose into a stooped position. He did not want the zed to see his head above the wall. He then edged out into the alley. Fortunately the rain ended the day before, and the sky showed spots of blue. He could see clearly down to the end, and he saw no movement. Dennis reminded himself zed could remain stock still until prey came within their reach; however, those surprises tended to happen more to muggles than wizarding folk.

“Fast walk and pay attention,” he stated and began to head toward his left.

Oliver and Ronin took up their positions as instructed, and Rose literally bumped into his back. With the formation squared, the small team began to walk toward the rear door of the building they intended to use. Dennis liked that fact a solid metal surface faced them. As they approached, he saw only a few errant marks on it clearly indicating the zed never attacked it. Zed attacks left brown hand prints and a smell. It led him to believe the alley remained blocked for some time and only the two zeds they dispatched got trapped. At the door, Dennis pressed his ear against it.

“Any sounds?” Oliver inquired.

“I can't tell,” Dennis replied.

“Why not?”

“You're talking.”

Ronin snorted a bit, and Dennis grinned while he tried to zero in on specifics sounds possibly emanating from the other side of the door. After half a minute, he stood up. He glanced at the others and shrugged.

“Can't hear anything, but they could be dormant,” he said and used oft repeated phrase.

Both Oliver and Ronin frowned while Rose went wide-eyed. For nearly a month she tagged along with them while the zed took over England city by city. Since the start of the invasion, Dennis never failed to note the type of victims the horrible creatures preferred of which he happened to be a member. He also discovered staying too long in one place invited disaster. Thus, the man tended to frequently travel around. Of course, he traveled in pursuit of his vocation prior to the zed, so it did not change his lifestyle much. In this way he ran into Oliver and Ronin Wood on the far outskirts Edinburgh in Broxburn. For almost four months the three tried to figure out a way to get back into Edinburgh so Oliver could search for his family. After three months, they found Rose who seemed lost and reeling from the death of her husband. It took two weeks for the three men to discover she and William only got married at the same time Dennis found the Wood brothers. It struck Dennis as entirely bizarre they would marry during an apocalypse.

“Oh, I can guarantee we'll find some in there,” Dennis said to avoid giving false hope. “If this is like most buildings around here, there should be stairs near the back. We need to find those and get to the higher floors. We want to get on the roof as fast as we can.”

Rose, dressed in blue jeans, a jean jacket over a zip-up hooded sweatshirt, and hiking boots, held up her tennis racket as though ready to return a serve. Time and again Dennis tried to get her to change weapons, but she refused. This time he planned on leaving her no choice. Oliver assumed a stance with his chopping maul raised. Ronin stood to one side and practiced a few swings.

“Right, now who's going to open the damn door?” Dennis inquired.

Oliver, Ronin, and Rose exchanged furtive looks. Then the trio glanced at Dennis, who held the sword above his head so as to strike downward on any zed that came tumbling out. When the others said nothing and gave no indication which one would act, he got a little testy.

“Okay, see the sword in my hand?” He grumbled at his comrades.

Three heads nodded.

“See how I'm holding it?”

He got the same response.

“Now, how in bloody hell do you think I'm going to wield this blade and a wand at the same time?”

One after another their mouths opened as if to answer, but then Oliver and Ronin turned a little red in the face. Rose started shaking her head. Dennis got a little more angry.

“Fine, I'll open the door, but then you'll have to deal with the dead tossers while I try to get out of the way,” he warned them.

“No, I'll do it,” Ronin said and stepped up. “You've got a right good hand with that sword, and I'd rather have you swinging it.”

“What about this?” Oliver grumbled at his brother. Once again Dennis preferred to look at Ronin instead of Oliver.

“You miss thirty or forty percent of the time. Denny only misses one in ten.”

Oliver's face dropped a bit and he gave the impression of being betrayed. Dennis tied to keep from laughing, but the tension in his body grew by leaps and bounds as he prepared to face who knew how many undead behind the door. Hence, he giggled. Oliver snarled at him.

“He's your brother... and he's not wrong,” Dennis replied, but only whispered the second half.

With that Ronin walked up to the door with his bat in one and his wand in the other. The man held the wand mid-stomach level. He did not look around when he said: “Get ready: here it comes. Alohamora.”

Light sparkled around the lock and it clicked. Ronin grabbed the handle, twisted, pulled, and hauled the door open. Silence and darkness greeted the foursome. No one moved. Weeks of battling the permanently hungry and vicious creature trained them how to hold their ground. Nothing came out of the door, not even any sounds.

“Clear,” Oliver said from his position.

“Clear,” Rose repeated.

“I dropped my wand,” Ronin mumbled while ducking down and reaching out for it.

“Doesn't look like any zed are in this part of the building,” Dennis said with hint of relief and small chuckle.

“Ever gonna get a grip on this laughing thing?” Oliver grunted at him.

Dennis' blue eyes met Oliver's brown, and Dennis grinned. He knew he could not control his reaction to stress, so he gave into it. Oliver ground his teeth together and returned to scanning the dark interior of the building.

“What's it look like they did here?” Rose asked at a normal volume.

“Only one way to find out,” Dennis answered and began walking forward with his sword still poised to strike.

The others fell in behind him, Rose following first, and Oliver closed the door as the last one to enter. The group became shrouded in gloom as the daylight got cut off. No lights remained active in the building mainly because electricity ceased to flow when the lines snapped. The lack of sufficient lighting did not hide the fact they walked through the storeroom of some sort of clothier. Both prefabricated apparel and bolts of cloth lay stacked on shelves. The foursome then faced another door. Dennis approached it first. They replayed the same tactic.

“No sounds, but...” he said after listening for a while. “No telling what's out there. We should check for the stairs back here first.”

They split into two teams. Dennis did not get his wish when Ronin went off with Oliver. He did not take it as too much of a personal slight since teaming with Rose could, at times, present an unexpected level of danger. Whatever befell her prior to being found, it caused her to overreact in the presence of zed.

“Stay close,” Dennis whispered to her as the moved off to the left and deeper into the storeroom.

Throughout the investigation, a small stream giggling issued from Dennis. Rose threw several annoyed looks his way, but it only seemed to make it worse for him. When the reached a wall and found no evidence of the zed, they headed back to the starting point. Oliver and Ronin waited for them.

“Oy, stairs are back here,” Ronin told them. “See anything?”

“Just a lot of tacky clothes,” Dennis said.

Rose's face broke into a wry smirk. Oliver and Ronin, and it surprised Dennis how much they resembled one another, although he still thought Ronin more handsome, moved with practiced stealth. Both kept their hair trimmed short, although they each needed a cut by that time. It surprised Dennis to see Ronin stood about an inch taller, but Oliver clearly outweighed the younger brother. The observations piled up in Dennis' head. When they halted, Dennis nearly ran into Oliver.

“Does this look right?” Oliver asked.

Four sets of eyes tried to pierce the twilight-like atmosphere. Dennis shrugged while the others continued to scan the steps.

“Only one way to find out,” Dennis stated and aimed for the stairs.

The boards felt solid under foot, and the layer of dust muffled the footfalls even as it filled the air with disturbed particles. The group assumed the same positions they used when entering the building. Dennis tried to keep the stairs from creaking and met with middling success. Years of standing without use could adversely affect stairs, and the worry of wood rot never left Dennis' mind as he climbed. More than once a bad set of stairs nearly got him killed. When he reached the top, he held up a hand to signal the other stop.

Dennis pressed his ear to the door. After a few seconds he frowned. Distinct rattling sounds could be heard. When he faced his friends, they read his visage.

“Now what?” Ronin whispered.

“Doesn't sound like too many,” Dennis replied and all but silently spoke the words. He shifted he focus to the door handle, saw what he needed to see, and mouthed: “No lock.”

Rose already began to shake her head. However, she remained trapped between Dennis and Ronin. In the face of her protestation, Dennis began to pantomime with his hand what he planned on doing. It involved not much more than opening the door and using his sword. He guessed a hallway lay on the other side and, unlike most others, he preferred to fight in a hall. It limited the number of ways the zed could approach. Of course, hallways could also limit the area he needed to sling his blade. Regardless, he held up a hand, fingers outstretched, and began to lower one digit at a time to signify the count down. Rose's head, and her dark locks, never stopped shaking from side to side.

“Now,” Dennis said as he lowered his hand, seized the handle, turned it and pushed.

The moan of the undead instantly met their ears. Dennis leaped into the open space beyond the door, sword flashing left and right, and managed to knock down two zed right away. More light penetrated the hallway from the windows at the far end, giving him good dark outlines at which to aim. Oliver, Ronin, and, to a lesser extent, Rose charged in after him. A chopping maul, a bat, and a tennis racket joined the fray. One zed, split partially down one side, reached out to grab Oliver. The limb dropped to the ground as Dennis began his pirouette of destruction. Seconds later a horrid crunching sound ensured as Oliver brought his weapon to bear. The sound of Ronin's bat, thudding like coconuts tossed on the ground, echoed around them. The rush and twang of Rose's tennis racket reported she did not hold back from taking part in the fight. The foursome carried on with their grim task without speaking.

Six minutes later five corpses no longer moved. Parts of appendages and heads littered the floor. The team acted decisively to take down the animated dead, each bringing to bear their particular weapon of choice. It also helped that the zed tended to be uncoordinated and indecisive when presented with too many targets at one time. They lacked any capacity for planning or thinking. For this reason and a host of others, Dennis decided long ago to never feel bad for returning zombies to the grave. While they looked like humans, whatever agent brought them back to life, and he hated using that word, stripped the dead of any semblance of humanity. However, the sight of two children who looked no older than ten jolted him a bit. It appeared to be a family that attempted to take shelter in the building. The bite marks on all of the corpses spoke to their demise. Dennis could even begin to guess how long the shambling bodies wandered trapped on the floor.

“Search and destroy,” Ronin bluntly said as Dennis gazed down at the departed.

“Right, right,” Dennis muttered.

Again they broke into teams, and again Rose traveled with Dennis. The hallway seemed to divide the upper story into halves. Dennis and Rose went to the right while Oliver and Ronin searched the left side. The found rooms with various boxes of dusty clothing, some with personal items, and then the one where the family tried to take refuge. Dark brown, nearly black stains on the floor and spattered on the walls gave testament to what they all knew took place. Someone in the deceased family surely arrived after being bitten, and then died following a period of time simply to rise and attack the others. Smears of blood leading out of the room told another part of the tale. Lastly, the desiccated remains now lying strewn about the hallway provided the ending of their story. However and to the relief of the living, the rest of floor did not contain any zed.

“Clear?” Dennis asked when the four reunited in the hall.

“Clear,” came the chorus.

“Now onto the next part...”

“Doesn't it even get to you a little?” Rose blurted and stared at him.

“What?” He inquired. “The dead dead... or do you mean what happened to these people that nobody, even Dumbledore at his peak, could change? What's supposed to get to me?”

Rose blinked in response at the taut reply. Dennis took a step forward. He searched her eyes.

“The second you start feeling bad for the dead, you're going to end up one of them, Rose. They're not human any more,” he told her and tried to remove the scorn from his words. “These... things would kill you and not even think ‘bout it as they ate you. Know why?”

She shook her head.

“'Cause they can't think. Their running on instinct or something much like it. They don't talk. They don't reason. They kill, and they try to eat what they kill. Ever notice how they come after our kind fast as they can, passing up muggles to get to us?”

Rose nodded.

“You want me to feel sorry for the monsters that do that?” Dennis continued his relentless answer. “This is a war, Rose: a day to day to day war. Once you start feeling for them, you're dead.”

“Didn't you lose anyone one to these things? See them get up and became part of this... this horror show?” Rose yelled at him.

From without the sound of zed who heard the yelling began to moan.

“Just so you know, and let me make this bloody clear to you, I lost everyone. I'm an orphan now, Rose,” he ground out between his teeth, “and don't forget this started for me back at Hogwarts when I had to bury my brother!”

Oliver and Ronin looked crestfallen when he mentioned the death of Colin Creevey. Rose studied his face in seeming bewilderment. Dennis suddenly felt hard and immovable.

“That was twenty years ago, Denny,” she quietly said.

“Oh, so I should stop feeling that and start feeling for these rotten bastards who killed off the rest of my family?”

The woman's face lost all color. Following several tense moment wherein Dennis did not chuckle, she turned and walked down the hall to stand before the window facing out to the main street. No one spoke for a few minutes.

“Ye're really all alone?” Oliver quietly asked.

Dennis answered with a curt nod.

“No, mate, you've got us,” Ronin said.

The de facto leader of the small band turned and gazed at his friends. Both brothers appeared moved by what he said. Dennis tried to smile, but it came out strained. He twisted his head and watched Rose. He followed her dusty footprints until he stood next to her. Together they watched a sizable mass of zed amble about in front of the building, some of which fixated upon their hiding place.

“I think my family is part of them now,” he quietly told her. “Tried to find ‘em for two years, but... never... not one sign of them. They just got... swallowed up by all of this.”

“Is everything a joke to you?” Rose complained.

“Didn't mean it like it came out, but, no, I don't joke about the zed. They're going to be the end of all of us if we don't come up with an answer soon.”

Rose's head swiveled at a fantastic rate to face him. He fixed her with a gaze. His lips never twitched. His nervous laughter did not emerge.

“Don't believe for a second anyone is really on top of all this madness. Have you seen any sign this is under control?” Dennis pressed.

Rose regarded him for a short period before saying: “No.”

“Then don't get angry with me, love. Get angry, stay angry with them,” and he inclined his head to the mob of undead below. “We need to survive, so we've got to keep our priorities in order. Understand?”

His friend bobbed her head once. Dennis could see she remained upset with him, but he hoped Rose would take heed. Any war between the living humans would doom them as he completely believed the undead went unchecked. It seemed every passing month he saw more of them and less of the living. After spending two years roaming the England in search of a sanctuary and three years before trying to hide, Dennis witnessed the growing onslaught. He spent sleepless nights wondering how the miserable creatures managed to propagate so fast. Few answers ever presented themselves.

The rustle of footstep alerted both to the approach of the Wood brothers.

“Shite and piss, look at ‘em all!” Oliver exclaimed.

“Should be okay long as we don't make too much noise,” Ronin said even though he did not sound convinced of his own words..

“No, mates. We're not sticking here for much longer. The museum I'm thinking ‘bout is just up the lane. We make for that and we'll be better off for it,” Dennis countered. “There's nothing here for us. We just need to find a way up to the roof.”

“Ye're sure ‘boot this, Denny?” Oliver challenged.

“Been there myself back before Edinburgh got overrun. What we need is in that museum.”

Dennis' proficiency with the sword presented a compelling argument. Few realized back when he attend Hogwarts, after the war with Voldemort and the death of his brother, he spent many lonely nights talking to the ghosts and pictures. From them he learned pieces of history Professor Binns never explained, and part of the side education he received included knowledge regarding weapons from centuries past. It seemed unlikely when the ghost Peeves took an interest, perhaps a malicious one, in furthering Dennis' understanding of bladed weapons. Hence, Dennis learned to fence and use other arms from a most unusual teacher late at night in uninhabited parts of Hogwarts that remained standing. Later, when the zee infestation began, those lessons paid off beyond measure.

After observing the horde of undead for little longer, a new plan formed in Dennis' head. It still involved travel over the rooftops to reach their destination, but an old memory cropped up. He started to grin in a manic fashion, and his three companions shifted nervously from foot to foot as he started to explain. When he finished, however, they regarded him in with different expressions.

“It's a little daft, Denny, but it might work,” Ronin said first in support of the plan.

“Aye, radge as Welshman, but let's give it a go,” Oliver added.

“Actually, this will work,” Rose commented as she swayed her head back and forth in apparent contemplation over the idea.

It only took a small effort to put the plan into effect. First they collected full suits of clothing still hanging on hangers. The abundance of needle and thread made it easy to attach stray bits and bobs of metal to the clothing, and enough on each suit to make quite a racket. Then the foursome went from window to window on the far side of the building, facing front, and hung out the refurbished garments. The constant breeze that blew through the city provided the energy, but the witch and three wizards used a locomotion spell on the garments to make certain they waved enough. It seemed to work as planned. The zed began to focus on the decoys. The group them went in search of the access to the roof and quickly found it.

“Love to see a plan go off like that,” Dennis bragged and quietly laughed when he stood in the open air with the others.

“Might be ‘cause ye're off a bit, but these ideas of yers do work,” Oliver complimented him in a backhanded manner.

“Bit off?”

“Well, ye know, what with the fellas and all that.”

“Don't worry, Ollie: you're not my type. Too... smoldery,” Dennis said and clapped him on the shoulder.

Ronin snorted when his brother adopted an offended stance. Dennis winked at Ronin and then began to study the ridge line of the roofs. Most tended to be flat or slanted, but some retained peaks. His only concern centered on whether they could find a point of entry. In the meanwhile, the zed continued to collect below them.

“Best get moving,” Dennis said as the situation below progressed.

He began sneaking across the roof in a crouch toward the adjacent building. The others followed his lead. The group climbed up on a drain pipe to reach the next roof and then shimmy down the other side after handing off their weapons and backpacks. On some they found short metal ladders. The peaked roofs proved troublesome since the tiles tended to be slick even on a dry day. It took over an hour in the waning afternoon before they neared their goal. With three buildings to go, someone pulled him to a stop. When he looked behind, Rose pointed toward the street. What Dennis saw did not bode well. The glass of the windows and doors lay in pieces on the ground. It seemed others shared his sentiments for old weapons.

“Fack,” Oliver quietly swore for him. “No what'a we do?”

“Nothing changes. We go in through the roof access,” Dennis answered.

“And if there's zed?” Rose growled.

“Chop off their heads,” Ronin quickly supplied the answer. “Well, Denny and Oliver will.”

Dennis smirked at his friend as Oliver let out with a nasty chuckle. Rose, however, appeared doubtful. She cast her eyes about the three men. Trepidation rolled off of her in a palpable wave.

“Rather wait up top?” He suggested.

“No, I go in there with all of you,” she whispered.

The answer surprised Dennis, but he felt a swell of pride for her. He glanced at the sky once, noting the position of the sun. They needed to accomplish their primary objective with all due haste. He, and likely the others, hated fighting zed in the dark. Night did not handicap the undead.

“Same plan as last time, except we drop in the buggers. Follow me,” Dennis told them and led the charge.

They finished scrambling over the roofs as quietly as they could. Their decoy continued to work, but a few non-living stragglers wandered about. It meant they needed to work as silently as possible. Stealth proved difficult to achieve upon reaching the museum. A locked hatch covered the access point. Dennis retrieved his wand and showed his command of magic when he very quietly opened the lock. He only seemed to use a trace of magic. Rose pursed her lips and nodded in appreciation at his subtlety. 

The moment got broken when Oliver's heavy maul slipped out of his hand and crashed onto the surface of the roof. A loud boom reverberated through the air, the building, and the street. Zed began to moan.

“You fucking idiot!” Dennis growled.

“Fack off, mate. Just wait ‘em oot,” Oliver said, but the brogue in his voice betrayed his nervousness.

“We're losing sun!”

Everyone looked up. Oliver became grim since coming up from the street they could hear zed moaning and shuffling around. Ronin crept over to the edge of the building. A minute later he returned, shaking his head.

“'Round a dozen... maybe fifteen, I'd say. Might be a while ‘fore they head off,” the youngest Wood brother reported.

“Damn it,” Dennis swore and thought for a moment. “Right, let's pop the lid and see what we can see. If there's too many of the rotters, then we head out.”

He could not look at Oliver and simply approached the hatch. The lid, coated in tar to prevent leaks and rust, proved far heavier than expected. Once raised, Dennis carefully peered into the opening. Below he could see the floor, but it looked like rough, unpainted lumber. The material perplexed him. He waited nearly five minutes, the others waited in silence as well, for zed to wander into view. None came. Dennis scratched his head and randomly thought he needed a haircut as well. He studied the wooden ladder leading downward.

After a sigh he said: “Nothing to do but go down there and see.”

“Don't be stupid,” Rose chastised him. “You've no idea what you'll find.”

“I think its an attic, and I don't think the zed can get in.”

Oliver hummed. Dennis tossed an angry glance at him. Oliver looked away. When Dennis turned to Ronin, Ronin shrugged.

“Hold my bag,” he asked and held it out, and Rose took it.

Dennis grabbed the top rung of the ladder, swung his legs over the lip of the hatch, and braced himself once he stood on it. No sounds reached his ears from directly under him in contrast to the zed that continued to groan and shuffle down in the street. He steeled his nerves and began the descent. The ladder felt old and worn, yet stable. When he dropped below the sealed plenum space of building, Dennis paused and looked around. A smile slowly spread across his face. He climbed back up until his head popped through.

“Oh, me buckos, you ain't going to believe this,” he nearly crowed. “Get your gear and come down.”

The strawberry blonde head disappeared again. The three on the roof clambered down the ladder, with Rose first and Ronin taking the last position. When the four reunited, the each silently assessed their location. The stood in a dry, dusty room lacking any resemblance to a museum. Boxes, crates, and low shelves sat stacked in orderly processions, each numbered or tagged in carefully drawn script.

“Welcome to the reserve collection,” Dennis told his friends. “Welcome to the promised land.”

“Ye said there'd be food,” Oliver grumbled.

“Still might be, but... by Weiss' water tank, this is what we really wanted. I want you, Ollie, to look for one word written somewhere.”

“And that is?”

“Maillet.”

Oliver stared blankly at Dennis.

“Better known as a war hammer!” The lead man of the group chuckled as he spoke.

Ronin and Rose watched the exchange. It appeared the discovery of the cache removed the sting from Oliver's blunder only minutes before. Dennis claimed his backpack from Rose, and the set it next to where he laid his sword down. He saw during his first inspection the solid wood door of the storage room never got disturbed. While Dennis initially feared the museum would be completely looted when he saw the broken front windows, he realized the real treasure got ignored. Museums typically housed twice as much as displayed.

“Be careful, but look through everything... and don't drop a single damn thing,” he instructed his friend, and the last part made Oliver's face go flush.

They spread out. After a few minutes Rose announced she found a tool box, and they each took a tool they could use to open sealed crates. Then the search commenced in earnest. The group found what Dennis promised: swords, main gauches, pole arms, halberds, glaives, mattocks, hammers, and maces. They also discovered pieces of armor that included, to Dennis' great delight, several sets of chain maille. Dennis became giddy when he saw the swords. One long crate contained three claymores, and the one next to it held two beautiful examples of zweihanders. An early seventeenth century French flamberge got nestled with basket-hilted broadswords. One box held a collection of dirks that made everyone gasp. Dennis, his eye trained long before, realized they found the working blades and not a forgery among them.

“Noo this is a thing of beauty,” Oliver cooed from where he stood over crate. In his hand a heavy mace gleamed a dull gray in the light.

“Nice German mace,” Dennis admiringly stated. “Good find.”

“Mine,” Oliver blurted as if he expected competition.

It took some time, and the light began to wane, but Dennis helped each person select weapons that they like and, more importantly, could wield without difficulty. Oliver decided to stay with the heavy weapons, choosing the mace and a war hammer with a pointed end. Ronin found a hilted sabina, the likes of which Dennis only ever read about. He had no idea a Scottish museum would house one. The younger Wood brother also followed the example set by the older one and took a mace. Rose became interested in a short-handled battle axe, and Dennis approved of her selection. They also found a short sword that she could more or less brandish. By the time the completed that task, the sun dipped below the horizon and cast the storeroom into a deep twilight.

“Luminos,” Dennis said, and the tip of his wand glowed.

“Sure that's a smart move, mate?” Ronin queried.

“It might attract them, but... looks like this is where we spend the night,” Dennis replied. “There's some other stuff I'd like to examine when the sun comes up. We each should find a quillon or poignard. Those come in handy for stabbing up through the chin into the brain.”

“How do you know all this?” Rose queried as she narrowed his eyes.

“You did go to Hogwarts, right?”

“Piss off,” she quipped.

“Ever talk to the ghosts or the portraits?”

Dennis did not need to say anything further. Students sometimes got trapped in conversations from which they could not extricate themselves. Unlike most, Dennis stayed and listened since it alleviated his sense of personal misery. His situation did not get any better when his sexuality became exposed at the end of his fifth year due to a gross miscalculation. The ghosts and pictures never seemed to care about that. They loved the interaction with a living person. Many became his closest friends, and he visited them whenever he returned to Hogwarts. Often it served as the only reason why he went back. He planned on making a visit at some point to let them know the endless hours they spent talking with and tutoring him routinely saved his life.

“See here, I've got some crackers left and a bit of granola, anyone got any jam?” He said as the next order of business presented itself when his stomach began to rumble.


	2. Chapter 2

The four spent the night and morning in the armory. An errant Scottish ghost who only spoke a weird variant of Pictish arrived and gave them grief apparently regarding the weapons they purloined. Rose effectively banished the spirit with a well aimed and timed spell. The next morning they finished arming and armoring themselves. Although the chain maille sleeves added weight to their jackets, it made sense. Oliver suggested they find a football museum to get shin guards. Despite laughing, no one dismissed the idea. They also tossed around the notion of finding lineman's boots or calf-length Doc Martens. Thus, the foursome departed the storeroom better prepared than when the arrived. Dennis privately sighed in relief that Rose gave up her tennis racket, although she appeared angry and sullen about it.

Food and water rose to the top of the needs list. Once they exited the storeroom through the roof hatch, that Ronin carefully closed, they surveyed the surrounding area. Far to their left they could hear the mass of zed still being attracted by the decoys set the previous day. The group began to move out, scanning the rooftops, the street below, and the sky. Clouds rolled in from the sea and Oliver predicted it would rain before the afternoon ended. As the marched along, the eldest Wood came alongside him.

“How does an English bloke know so much aboot Edinburgh?” Oliver quietly asked.

“Irish, and it's the weather what brings me here,” Dennis answered through a smirk.

Oliver snickered once, but his face did not display humor when he asked again.

“Had a few friends here,” and Dennis put an odd emphasis on the subject noun, “and did some favors in the city for others.”

“What kind of favors?”

“Visiting graves... talking to relatives of some who lived here once a long time ago.”

Oliver eyed him.

“Listen, Ollie, I really did get on with the ghosts and portraits. They know an amazing amount of things and are totally willing to share if you let them,” he rejoined to the expression. “Some wanted messages delivered. Others had business to tidy up with family from... ages ago. Spent almost ten years traveling around these islands doing this, Ollie. It's... you could say it's my job.”

“Pays well, does it?” Oliver skeptically inquired.

“Oh, sometimes very, very well. You'd be surprised how much a few of the trinkets I found brought in. One gent paid almost a thousand galleons for an old family ring I recovered, and I never asked for payment. I was doing a favor, but he wouldn't let me go without the reward.”

His friend gaped at him.

“Plus I got to see a lot of Britain, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. Became rather addicted to our history and understanding how it all fits together. There's some mysteries I'm still trying to sort out. Think I'm going to write a few books if this zed shit ever get solved,” Dennis explained with a hint of pride in his voice.

Oliver huffed once as if he uncertain on what to believe. Dennis failed to mention the number of romantic liaisons and trysts such travels offered. Muggles, he learned, lived in a constant state of sexual excitement. Of course, the same held true for witches and wizards, and fortunately the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy did not forbid the occasional dalliance. Dennis felt a rosy glow in his chest as he recalled certain visits to Edinburgh. It dimmed when he realized he did not know if any of those gentlemen remained alive.

The journey across the skyline of the Gyle district of the city revealed the dire circumstances. They saw plenty of zed, but living humans, and military in particular, appeared to be in severely short supply. Each wondered aloud whether people remained trapped in houses. However, anyone would be hard pressed to survive for five years cooped up in a house. Once more the topic of food and water arose. Dennis decided they needed to make it priority.

“Do we know of any part of the city under control?” He inquired.

It did not come as surprising when Rose, the newest of their team, said she heard rumors Holyroad Park still showed signs of life. Oliver and Ronin both doubted the veracity of the rumor since it lay close to the coast and docks where the zed invasions happened in force. Magical communities, they all noticed, tended to get hit hard fast and first. By the time they reached the end of the row on the relatively safe overhead avenue, they learned zed dominated the western side of Edinburgh.

“And now?” Rose asked.

“Oliver, where did you last see your wife and children?” Dennis cautiously inquired.

“New Haven,” the man answered in a tight voice.

Rose sharply inhaled while Ronin looked everywhere except at his brother. As with Holyroad Park, New Haven lay close to the ocean inlet and the docks. Like Holyroad Park, it seemed entirely likely to be overrun. Although they spent four months traveling around eastern Scotland, and Edinburgh in particular, Oliver revealed few facts about what happened to his family other than to say the zed started stumbling out of the fireplace. Ronin privately told Dennis Oliver got separated from his family during the mad dash to escape. A wall of zed stood between the oldest Wood brother and his small family. Oliver would not elaborate.

“Want to do something dangerous and stupid?” Dennis grimly inquired.

“What is wrong with you, Denny? Are you trying to get killed?” Rose hissed at him.

“No, I'm trying to find Ollie's family, thank you very much!”

Even Oliver appeared a tad surprised by the answer.

“And right now the only lead we have is where they got separated. We've been working for months to get to this point,” Dennis elaborated.

“We have?” Ronin questioned.

“Yeah, we have. I never said anything because both of you needed field experience and I didn't want to get your hopes up, but... yes, my goal has always been to get in and see what we can find.”

The foursome stood on a lightly angled slate roof. Overhead a gray sky bulged with the possibility of rain. On the street zed roamed, and a few looked up at the group of magical people. Dennis got the distinct and uneasy sensation the undead knew where to look, but he could never figure out the how or why. The years he spent wandering the country avoiding and fighting the zed menace taught him quite a bit, most of which he passed onto the Woods and now to Rose, but too many aspects and facets of the horrors remained unknown. Mostly, he wanted to know how it all got started. Deep inside, Dennis wanted to find someone to blame for the death of his parents and extended family. He traveled in search of any Creeveys who might still exist. For two years he came up empty handed, and this drove him to want to know more.

“It wasn't just my family I was looking for,” he confessed to his friends.

“Why did ye nae tell me, ye scunner?” Oliver barked at him.

“'Cause you'd want to go rushing it and that'd get us killed,” Dennis truthfully told him.

“But time... all this time... wasted!”

“Wasted?” He loudly questioned, and he heard zed groan in the background. “You've been learning how to fight these blasted and bloody things. Now you've got the proper weapons...”

“We're wizards!” Oliver said full of accusation.

“And wizards, witches, too, bring on the undead like moths flocking to a torch. You've seen it, Ollie, and don't tell me you haven't. If you go in with your wand pulled cursing every zed in sight, you'll be one of them in minutes, and then where will your family be?”

Dennis never raised his voice, but he let his anger and condemnation show. The truth of his statements crowded around him, similar to how the zed focused on the quartet in greater numbers. Dennis purposefully stared down at the growing throng. It forced the others to follow his line of sight.

“You really think your magic is strong enough to defeat that?”

Oliver did not speak.

“But now you have weapons to use against them,” Dennis continued. “I'm not saying you didn't do a good job with your maul, but what you have now gives you better control. We can go in and fight a good number of them back if we have too. Now tell me this: do you really think you were ready before?”

“No,” Oliver grunted.

“Are we ready now?” Ronin asked the salient question.

“Outside of having a couple of hundred people to help us, I'd say this is about the best chance we're going to get,” Dennis offered his assessment. “Listen, mates, we're witches and wizards, and we have to be careful how we use magic. Right now a sturdy, sharp blade does us more good. We save the magic for back-up. I've... seen too many...”

He trailed off as he thought about the massacres he witnessed and the aftermath of many others. It taught him the value of the sword he carried. Friends, people he knew for years, could not escape the clutches of the undead once magic got involved. The one aspect of their lives that seemed like it should help became a deadly hindrance. In some respects it reminded him of the Voldemort wizarding war. Through the eyes of a child, Voldemort appeared unstoppable. He thought about Harry Potter, who he last saw over six years before, and hoped the man and his brood stayed safe.

“Denny?” Ronin gently said his name as a question.

“No, just old memories,” he replied more to himself than his friend. Dennis shook his head to clear the mung starting to build. He then nodded once and said: “And we need to get out of their line of sight.”

The foursome backed away from the edge of the roof and sat down on the crest. They jingled slightly as they took a seat. The new armor felt slightly awkward. Dennis imagined a person watching from above would see the strangely similar attire of the four and assume them to be a fighting unit. He wanted them to act as such for at least no other reason than it kept them alive. However, not a plane or helicopter occupied the sky. On rare occasion a military jet flew by. Only one audience paid them any attention. The zed further in the distance could possibly make out their presence, but few thought them bright enough to make fine distinctions. It felt safe enough for the moment.

“Once we get some food and water, does anyone have an idea on how to proceed?” Dennis opened the discussion.

“Thought you already had a stupid and dangerous plan?” Rose countered.

“I do, but.. maybe someone has a less stupid and danger one,” he bluntly returned.

“I think you should tell us what you've got in mind first,” Ronin interceded.

Oliver nodded, and his silence spoke for him. His eyes looked haunted. The usual mellow brown color of the irises seemed far too dark. Rose fidgeted. Ronin appeared focused.

“Ollie apparates us into his old house and...”

“Have ye gone bendies?” Oliver hollered at him.

“Keep your voice down,” Rose groused.

“He means...” Ronin started.

“Crazy. I know,” Dennis said and looked squarely at the older brother of Ronin. “No, I'm not mad, Ollie”

“Ta place be filled with scunners, Denny!” Oliver continued to protest.

“Why?”

Dennis' question seemed to float in the air. Three people scrutinized him, and one in particular probably wanted to assess his mental state. He did not flinch from the combined gazes and waited for someone to hazard a guess. Time passed.

“Why would the zed stay if there's nothing for them to eat in the house?” Dennis finally gave in and offered a hypothesis in a round about manner.

“Might've gotten trapped,” Ronin posited.

“And if they did, then we've the jump on the rotters. We can take them.”

“Let me see if I understand your plan,” Rose said slowly as if talking to a person who became instantly demented. “You want us to pop into Ollie's house in a part of Edinburgh we know is teaming with zed, fight the ones we find in there, and then do... what?”

“Look for clues,” Dennis responded.

“Clues for what?” Ollie spit out the question.

“What happened to your family, Ollie. You managed to survive for a year in that house while the rest of the city got consumed.”

“Ye don't know that,” the man lobbed at him.

“Oh, then tell me how long you and your wife and children stayed in there?”

“Too long,” Oliver whispered as his eyes grew wide with remembered horrors. “Too long. We waited thinking the zed would move on, pass us by. They nae stopped banging on the door the whole time.”

“How long?” Dennis pressed the point.

“Eight months.”

Dennis originally guessed it to be a year, although he stated a time frame he thought absurd and unrealistic. To hear the actual length of time left him stunned. It affected the others in the same manner. Dennis pieced together a sliver of Oliver's ordeal on the tidbits he periodically let slip. He originally believed the Woods held our for a few weeks. Eight months almost boggled his mind.

“How?” He further asked.

“Mysie liked canning, and fair hand she had at it, too,” the man said of his wife.

“He's not kidding,” Ronin added. “Best pickled onions you'll ever have.”

“We'd more ‘an ‘nough food to last us a good long while. She kept heaps of flour and gallons of veggie oil in the cellar with everything she put up in jars. We was nae wanting. Oh, Rona, Cait, and Glenn got right sick of the salt fish, but... we ate and held oor own.”

“Did the cellar have a door?” Dennis inquired, a question that drew quizzical looks.

“Floor trap kind in the kitchen.”

Instantly after Oliver told him, a plan emerged in full flower in his head. He saw what they could do regardless if zed occupied the house. Dennis considered it highly unlikely the cellar trap door remained open during or after the zed invasion of the house. Anyone who lived in some of the older homes would immediately consider the cellar a trap and would never seek shelter in it from the zed. Oliver and his family clearly avoided it. Thus, a confined place from which they could stage their own invasion of the house seemed ready and waiting.

“Here's what I've got in mind,” Dennis said and launched into an explanation of his plan.

Five minutes later the other three continued to watch him as if Dennis slipped a cog in his brain. However, he held steadfastly to concept, believing it would work. They possessed the advantage of being able to think and adjust to changing circumstances. The zed lacked any such ability.

“Listen, if we arrive in wedge formation, and I'll take the point, with one of you lighting the way, then three of us can go after the zed. Just like we did in the building back there, we can slice up ‘em ‘fore they can swarm us,” Dennis presented the strategy of his plan.

“And if the door is open?” Oliver glumly challenged the idea.

“Then who ever is providing light apparates us out of there and back to... to... to the greensman shed we used back at Dalmahoy!”

Even as he said it, Dennis saw the weakness in that one particular point. He started to giggle. The small laugh revealed his nervousness to his friends.

“Oooh-kay,” Oliver drawled the word, “we knoo that won't work.”

“Alright, alright, so that part isn't the best,” Dennis conceded.

“But maybe the plan on the whole isn't to ruddy bad,” Ronin said and shrugged.

Oliver and Rose turned their disbelieving gaze on him.

“What Denny proposed we've done a dozen times before. The zed get... confused... crazy when there's too many of us around. We saw it yesterday,” Ronin stated what Dennis previously considered. “If we apparate in, we have the element of surprise...”

“These things don't get surprised: it just takes them a few seconds to react,” Rose correctly pointed out.

Even Dennis felt a small surge of pride at Rose's observation. It showed she learned through the more harrowing of their encounters. Moreover, it indicated she did not think his plan a total mess.

“This is nae gonna work,” Oliver blurted. “We gain nothing by... going there... nae clues... nothing.”

“Then where do you suggest we start?” Dennis asked, and he intimated he would listen to any alternate ideas.

“Not New Haven,” the man whispered.

Oliver turned and began walking away from them. The three remaining watched him. After five or six meters, the eldest Wood brother sat down again. The could see the sides of his chest expand and contract in a familiar patter. Dennis started to rise. A hand grabbed his arm.

“Don't, Denny. Just let him be for while. He keeps trying to hold it in... hold back what he's feeling, and I think it's chewing his insides out,” Ronin said, his voice full of compassion and concern.

“Then how to do we help him?” Dennis inquired while staring into eyes a veritable carbon copy of Oliver's, and resumed sitting.

The trio began to plan. Ronin continued to support the notion of returning to New Haven, but through a different means. Rose asked if apparating from rooftop to rooftop would be a better means of travel. The two male members of the threesome gawked at her. A sense of stupidity crept through Dennis for failing to see the obvious. Ronin snorted.

“I swear to Merlin you've got a death wish, Dennis Creevey!” Rose took him to task. “Do you really want to confront the zed that much?”

Dennis did not move. Deep inside Dennis wanted to destroy every zed on the planet. He lost too many whom he profoundly loved. A small slice of his brain warned he might lead his friends, three people who honestly and sincerely held his real affections, into a deadly situation. A rare pang guilt echoed in his chest. He averted his gaze.

“Won't do anyone a bit of good if you get killed. Really want to make the zed stronger by becoming one of them?” Ronin pressed.

“Then let's be smart about this,” Rose added in a solemn manner.

When Oliver return to the fold ten minutes later, the three friends came up with a new approach and a new reason. It came down to Ronin to explain since they figured during their planning Oliver would only listen to him. Thus, Dennis sat on the sidelines for once. He admired the tact Ronin displayed as the man explained to his older brother that they would apparate across the city in small jumps until they reached New Haven. At each point they would survey the zed and look to see if Oliver's family might be part of them. Tears rolled down Oliver's face while he listened, and a frightening look of anger settled on the Scotsman features.

“I know you don't want to hear it, Oliver, but... you're gonna have to start accepting it might be so,” Ronin gently but firmly stated.

Oliver curtly nodded once and said nothing.

“Do we have a plan?” Dennis asked.

“Aye,” Ronin answered first.

“Yes,” Rose agreed.

“You know the rules, Ollie: we all agree or come up with new idea,” Dennis reminded the last voice.

“Fine. Better ‘an nothing,” Oliver tersely spoke his vote.

With the accord in place, the four set to work plotting their path. Dennis retrieve one of the paper maps he liberated from a petrol station months ago. They needed to travel in a northeasterly direction in order to reach New Haven, one of the smaller Trinity neighborhoods. Half their journey, they saw, would keep them south of Corstorphine Road until both the Murrayfield Hospital and Murrayfield Golf Course lay behind them. Rose worried the hospital might be a stockpile of zed, and none disagreed. They continued to plot until each felt certain of the route.

“We should take turns apparating,” Dennis concluded. “And don't jump us too far ahead to places we can't see well. We're trying to avoid zed this time.”

“Aye,” Oliver said, but everyone caught the way in which her peered at Dennis.

“I'm, ah, starting to learn not everyone enjoys the melee like I do.”

“Aye,” Oliver repeated without blinking.

“Well, good, we've had a moment, but it's going to begin raining soon, so can we get going?” Rose grumbled. “I'll go first since I've got a fair hand at apparating, and you can all see how it's done.”

“What if muggles see us? We'd be violating the secrecy statute?” Oliver inquired following Rose's rather sarcastic remarks.

“Who cares?” Dennis replied. “You think the muggles have time to worry about us when those things are eating their world to death?”

“What about our people?”

“How many are left to even care about what we do?”

The small exchange highlighted that Oliver's personal tragedy got shared across the wizarding world. Dennis heard stories over the past two years that chilled him to the core and hardened his resolve against the zed. He did not work under the delusion the Ministry of Magic functioned in any real capacity. Ronin appeared confused, but Rose smirked. She kept the grin on her face as she walked to the northern edge of the roof where she stood staring at the building across Forrester Park Avenue. None of the three males decided to challenge her assertion.

Thus began their transit across Edinburgh. The wisdom of making small jumps paid off by the time they made the third crossing. Not all rooftops stood free of Zed. The group concluded people died on roofs while seeking safety or after getting bit. Twice on the way to Craigleith Dennis needed to employ his sword. All told after completing half the journey, the plan proved to be the best. At each stop they would halt and study the zed rambling around on the street. Oliver reluctantly shared a photograph of his family so the group could learn their faces. Dennis thought them a handsome family, and the quiet joy on Oliver's face in the moving image helped explain the intense pain he tried to disguise. While children never seemed to factor in Dennis' life, he could scarcely imagine the devastation his friend felt when his family got attacked. It left Dennis shaken.

In the Cannonmills region they paused to first fight off a group of zed stumbling around the roof that offered them the best surveillance vantage point. Dennis watched with a touch of dismay as his friends tried to wield their new weapons. They would need training, he thought, as he darted back and forth lopping off the heads of the undead. Rose randomly stabbed at the zed or flailed at them with her axe. Ronin got his mace wedged in the skull of one of the undead and tried to use his main gauche as saw. Oliver showed more competence since he used a maul previously, but he kept dropping the mace because of the return reverberation down the handle. Dennis chopped, parried, and slashed his way through three of the zed while his friends barely took out one each.

“That was ruddy awful,” Dennis grumbled as he looked over the remains. Four of the six severed heads continued to twitch as the active zed brains mindlessly continue to try and attack. “You're going to need some serious training when we're done with this.”

“Yeah, well, not like we had private tutors or anything like that,” Ronin crabbed. “And after having these new weapons for, oh, twelve hours, I'd expect us to be experts, too. Right, mate?”

Rose coughed as she tried to cover her laugh. Oliver just spun around so no one could see him. Ronin never changed his expression. Dennis sighed.

“Right, right. Sorry,” the man said to his three friends. “But we will need to practice before one of you kills one of us.”

That sobered the trio. On that final note, Ronin took his turn apparating them to their next location he could see roughly thirty meters away. Below the point he intended to land the group, several zed stood on a balcony. From their vantage point, it looked as though a general addressed its disorganized, rotting troops. Dennis watched the younger Wood brother stare fixedly at the destination, and then close his eyes. The world twisted into a knot with a hiss and pop as the group skipped over the span. The landed several inches above the roof, and only Oliver remained standing when they dropped.

“Sorry,” Ronin apologized.

“No, mate. I'd rather fall a few inches than have my feet stuck in the shingles or getting splinched,” Dennis assured him.

“True that,” Rose concurred.

Oliver led them to close to the edge. The group spent ten minutes scanning the scene on the street. During the interval the rain decided to arrive. Fat drops fell from the sky and spattered on them. A cool wind blew in from the bay and through the city. As one they abandoned the spot and ran looking for cover. Rose found a pigeon coop on a roof five meters north from where the stood. They ran as the rain increased and started to soak them. In the coop they found the birds lying dead on the floor, and the four humans crammed inside the tight space. A twisted wire fence formed one wall. Fortunately it did not face the wind and very little rain blew in that fell in a heavier torrent. It splashed around them and made the roof appear hazy. The foursome could only stand and did so carefully around the dried-out corpses of pigeons.

“Anyone for a game of gin rummy?” Dennis asked and looked expectantly around.

Oliver snickered while Ronin and Rose broke into laughter. It did not take long before the friends all started to guffaw at the ridiculousness of their current circumstances. They began to laugh in earnest. Dennis felt Ronin jiggling next to him, and his brain skipped tracks like a record player needle on scratched vinyl. For the unity of the group he forced down his feelings and told himself to halt being idiotic. It did not stop him, however, from enjoying the sensation to a certain extent.

It took a half an hour before the rain eased. The quartet of magic users spent the time utilizing their wands to dry off and get rid of the departed birds. As they worked, sounds began to emanate from under their feet. It started a soft moaning, but grew louder. Then they heard thumping as the zed started to pound their hands on walls.

“Better stop noo ‘fore tae nasties come up here,” Oliver warned, and the depth of his accent disclosed his worry.

Quickly and nearly in unison the witch and wizards stowed their wands. A touch of sadness edged into Dennis as he did. Because of the zed he tended to avoided using magic, and he found he dearly missed it. He early years got saturated with magic during the Voldemort war. After his brother died in the Battle for Hogwarts, Dennis vowed to become the best wizard he could so Death Eaters or any future dark wizard would never threaten him. His zeal caused the first social rift he suffered in school. People thought him obnoxious and spastic when it came to magic. He learned not to care about their opinion as he honed is craft. When his secret of his sexuality broke, practicing the various forms of magic became his main activity since few wanted to associate with him. Although he came to loathe a few aspects of his early life, he realized he walked out of Hogwarts a very skilled wizard.

“Mate?” Oliver asked, his dark eyebrows drawn together in question.

“Just miss using magic is all,” he summarized his thoughts.

“Don't we all,” Ronin chimed in.

Dennis could feel the man breathing, but he shoved the errant thought from his head.

“Why cry about it? It's just an invitation to get bit,” Rose reminded them.

With that they scrambled out of the coop into the much lighter ran that fell. All knew they would eventually get soaked, but they silently preferred a gradual progression. Ronin resumed his role as apparator, his last for that segment, and shuttled them across the Water of Leith. Oliver took over as planned. The rest could see he completely recognized the area. Ronin, conversely, took up residence in Yorkshire Dales north of Leeds, so his knowledge of Edinburgh got based on what he studied and remember from visits with his brother. 

Unlike the times when Dennis, Ronin, or Rose performed the apparation, Oliver landed them in very precise spots. They moved northeast through a neighbor south of Trinity, Oliver said. They saw nothing of living humans. Everywhere they looked zed roamed freely through the lanes. They saw undead in the windows of the houses and flats. Human bones lay scattered in the street, and it gave testament to the wholesale slaughter the zed brought on. Nobody saw an evidence of organized resistance. Dennis desperately wanted to question Oliver about the events, but knew it would simply lead to a sullen silence from his friend.

“We're with you all the way, mate,” Dennis said since he could not endure the emotional pressure he felt building around him.

Oliver nodded and held out his arm. Three people took hold. In the blink of an eye the group folded in on itself and disappeared. They long since gave up worrying if anyone, muggle or magical, witnessed their actions. Dennis decided over a year before to quit hiding in the shadows. Magical communities disappeared overnight in a press of dead flesh. It happened to muggle communities as well, but they always possessed more citizens. If all the muggles came to end, then humanity on the whole would come to an end since witches and wizards would most likely be extinct long before that day. Dennis kept his thoughts to himself as they jumped over Ferry Road to New Haven Road. No one noted or announced their arrival.

“Why not Craighall?” Ronin asked when they regained their orientation.

Dennis and Rose let their eyes flick to the older Wood brother.

“Willowbark ‘tis on this side of this road, and we'll get a better view of it,” Oliver returned. “Ye'll see when we get there.”

Oliver sounded certain and solemn. The rest nodded. For the present they accepted Oliver as their leader. He knew the area, after all. As happened at each stop, the foursome moved to the edge of the building to take in the scene on the ground. Zed slowly ambled around, looking listless and, if possible, even more lifeless. No other living humans could be spotted. Oliver routinely speculated the whole northern part of Edinburgh got lost to the undead. Given he witnessed the start of the invasion, he never doubted the Scotsman. The view below supported Oliver's contentions. One point of interest arrived in a cluster of decomposing undead lying on the ground. Some looked riddled with bullets.

Dennis elbowed Oliver and pointed at the oddity.

“Heard some folk put together a home guard. Might've been them. That donnae look too fresh. Probably happened at the beginning,” Oliver noted.

It did not appear recent upon further inspection. Zed brains, even old ones, tend to retain some amount of moisture for reasons nobody could explain. Dennis asked questions whenever he encountered the living. He seldom got good information. What he and Oliver saw showed the detritus from the zed demise to be absent. Secondly, the remains looked decayed, weathered, and worn. Those undead met their end long before.

“Gather round,” Oliver instructed when the inspection ended.

Dennis, Ronin, and Rose did. They made their next jump, performed their self-appointed tasks, and then moved on. It only took four transfers and a fight with a single zombie before they stood across from Oliver Wood's former residence. The row house lay tucked into a small neighborhood surrounded by a buildings of flats and another set of row houses. Dennis followed Oliver's line of sight, the man's face turned gray, and picked out the house. All of the doors along the row stood open. Zed shambled around in front, but what lay inside became impossible to determine. All in all, the overall muggle appearance of the row house astonished Dennis. He would never, ever guess a witch and a reserve keeper for a major league quidditch team lived in the area.

“Looks pretty quiet,” Ronin mumbled from the side.

The mist that fell gave way to a light rain, but the foursome already got saturated as they made their way to Willowbank Row. They hardly noticed the return of the rain.

“Looks are deceiving, love,” Rose rejoined. “They always go calm when nothing to eat is around.”

“Your call, Ollie. How do you want to proceed?” Dennis said and shifted the topic.

“Doon't know,” the man all but whispered. He never blinked and never took his eyes off the building painted a drab beige color. “No idea.”

Boards covered over the lower windows and the window in the door. The other windows sat too high off the ground for zed to ever reach unless they formed a ramp made of their bodies by massing against the wall. One row house clearly suffered that fate, but it lay three doors down from the Wood home. Dennis could make out hand prints on the walls. The door to the Wood house got stained black from where the zed tried to get in. It struck Dennis as odd because the door did not appear damaged so much as dirty. What he could see of the door jamb looked intact and whole. Questions bubbled up in his mind.

“Ollie, I know you don't like to, but... we need to know what happened here if we're going to figure out what to do next,” he explained to grim-faced man.

Oliver never looked at Dennis. He sighed. His face grew more pale, and he said: “We heard ‘boot them, ye know. The wireless ran all those stories. Never thought the buggers would get this far north. Then news of the Ministry getting taken came through. A day or two after that, it happened. We built a fireplace from the fake they put in, and the facking rotters came through that. The zed got into the network... got into oor house.”

He stopped talking. Tears glistened on his cheeks. Dennis, feeling emotional about his friend's turmoil, found something not quite right with the account. He stared at the house.

“But... Edinburgh...”

“Months a'fore that the zed showed up,” Oliver interjected and guessed the question. “Came in off a boat at the docks. Some bloody big craft, a personal one, floated in. They tied it off in the harbor ‘fore checking. When the opened the lower decks... a dozen zed... maybe more came flooding oot. The muggles dinnae know what to do. People started turning quick. Mysie and me helped fight for a while, but... more and more kept showing up. Some came right oot of the water in the bay and from the Leith. They was everywhere in no time. We shut and locked the door. Put spells on it to hold.”

He paused and stared narrow-eyed at the other three while light rain ran down his face, and then continued: “Sure, I know now that's what attracted ‘em, but the door held. We learned to ignore the scunners. Mysie figured we'd food enough for nearly a year if the water kept flowing. Would've made it, too, but then the fireplace...”

He could not be faulted for halting, but Dennis wanted him to finish. He wanted details about what happened after the zed arrived in the flue; for therein lay the real key as to the fate of his family.

“Ollie?” Dennis said as softly as he could. “What went on during the attack?”

“Mysie got the kids up the stairs. The rooms had pretty solid doors, so I just told her to get in and shut it, block it. She did. I... nothing worked. Every spell... curse... nothing!” Oliver told them and grew louder at the end. Several zed moaned. “The more I used, the harder they came at me. I tried, dear Alahazan, I swear I tried. They pushed me back... always back, back through to the family room.”

He stood wide-eyed, staring at the undead in the street, and Oliver obviously relived those moment is startling clarity.

“We know you did,” Ronin said, his voice filled with anguish. “Course you did.”

“Could nae stop a one of ‘em, Ro,” Oliver pushed the words out, his lips trembling, and tears streaming. “I knew... I knew... knew if I died... my Mysie, little Glenn... Rona, Cait... where'd they be?”

His eyes searched for answers in the visages of those who listened to him. Dennis knew he would find none. He kept his face as neutral as possible.

“I smashed the window, went oot it... fell down to the bushes. They were still up there, trapped. I could nae do a thing, Ro. Nae a thing!” The man said and sank to his knees. He tilted his head and stared at his empty hands. He saw an image the rest could not. “Lost my wand in the house. Grabbed a stick. ‘Cause them... bodies, dead stinking bodies came at me. I wanted to stay. I wanted to fight!”

Oliver reached up and seized Dennis by the jacket lapels. His brown eyes dripped with remembered horror and a pain as fresh as the moment it happened. Oliver looked past him, Dennis understood, and to that horrible day. His breathing came in ragged gasps.

“Oh, gods, I ran! I knew they were trapped up there and... I... ran. I was a facking coward and ran!”

The head covered over with brown hair grown wild over the months dropped forward as Oliver began to wail. Dennis instantly wrapped his arms around his friend and held him tight as the man collapsed into himself. Oliver continued to talk, but the words became garbled as his emotional distress took over. The human frame grown leaner from inadequate food over too long a period of time violently shook in Dennis' grasp. He clutched Oliver tighter, fighting against his own emotions that, regardless of what he wished, started to get the better of him. The pure agony spilling from his friend flowed like a tsunami, and it began to carry Dennis with him.

“You had to, mate,” Dennis croaked out the words and spoke as fast as he could. “How could you go looking for ‘em if you were dead. You led the zed away, Ollie. The went after you and not them. Your family got out ‘cause they chased you!”

“No, no... nae,” Oliver burbled into his jacket.

“No!” Dennis yelled, and Oliver's body started. “No! You gave them a chance to get out. Your Mysie is no fool, and your children are bred from one of the best keepers I know, so they're tough. They had to make it. Nothing else makes sense, Ollie!”

Oliver suddenly pushed roughly against him and broke away. His red-eyed, tear-stained, pale face shown with a visceral horror. His gaze bore into Dennis', and it terrified him.

“Ye tell me now, Denny! Ye facking tell me right noo they got oot! Ye tell me my family is oot there waiting fer me somewhere, and all I have to do is find them. Tell me that's the truth of it!”

Oliver's voice rang through the air and into the streets. Below zed answered in their fashion. Dennis ignored those noises. He reached up and took hold of Oliver's head, held it steady, and did not break the gaze.

“It's the only thing I can believe, Ollie. It has to be true. Nothing else makes any sense,” he told his friend. More than anything, Dennis wanted to believe his own words as much if not more than Oliver.

The face he held in his hand began to sag and gave no indication as to what Oliver heard. His mouth worked, silently uttering words no one could hear. Dennis felt the tears spill over his own eyes, mixed with the droplets on his face, as he witnessed a man getting consumed by self-doubt, self-loathing, and months of trying to control a past he could not change. The mystery of why Oliver did not want to discuss the events resolved itself. For several moments Dennis felt guilty he forced his friend to relive what most likely proved the worst day of his life. However, in doing that, Oliver revealed what needed to be shared if they hoped to make any plans. He gripped the gaunt face in his hands a little tighter.

“How'd the door get open, Ollie, if someone didn't open it from the inside?” Dennis said as loud as he dared since more and more zed joined into the ghoulish chorus. “I see the door frame, and it's not broken... neither is the window. That means a thinking person, not a dead one, got out.”

Oliver gave him a blank stare

“Oy, Ronin, tell me what I said is true. Go and see,” he ordered the younger brother. The older Wood brother tried to twist his head to watch, but Dennis held him in place and said: “You know Ro won't lie.”

Oliver nodded and kept his eyes fixed on Dennis. From the corner of his eyes he could see a visibly upset Rose. She did not move, but simply played witness. Buried in her, Dennis remembered, lay the story of the death of her husband. He imagined a similar scene playing out in the future as she came to grips with what occurred. Half a minute slipped by.

“He's telling the truth, Oliver,” Ronin's voice, a touch lower in pitch than his brother's, called out. “Frame and window of the door are in one piece.”

“How can that be if someone didn't leave from the inside?” Dennis presented the question again.

“Somebody... alive?” Oliver asked like a child inquiring why air is invisible or the sky blue.

“I'll lay odds down it's your Mysie who opened that door, and she wouldn't do a thing to harm those babies of hers and yours now, would she?”

“No,” the distraught man whispered.

“The either the zed followed you out the window or she took care of them, but I damn well know she'd keep those children safe,” Dennis continued his unyielding attack against his friend's despair and grief.

Oliver finally blinked and a touch of life came into his eyes.

“I'm willing to bet Colin's wand they're alive, Ollie. I can feel it.”

Somehow the mention of his dead brother affected Oliver. He reached up, took hold of Dennis' wrists, and removed the hands. However, he did not let go.

“It's all ye got left of him,” Oliver said in tone closer to normal. “Why would ye bet that, Denny?”

“Because you need to know how much I believe your family is living. I saw that door and... after you told me you and Mysie put spells on it, someone who knew about them had to open the door. The only answer is your wife,” Dennis laid out his logic, although a part of his brain noted a lot of speculation went into it.

“Living. Where?”

“That's what we need to find out next. We need to discover what happened here after you led the zed away from your family and you lost contact.”

“How?” Oliver asked another question.

“We search the city,” Rose spoke up, moved some wet locks of sandy-brown hair from her face, and the three men looked in her direction. “We'll find out if the people of Edinburgh put up a fight and where. We can then follow their trail.”

“Bloody brilliant,” Ronin muttered.

“Aye, aye. We'll do that. That'll give us answers,” Oliver responded, showing more life.

He stood and dragged Dennis into a standing position as well since he never let go of the wrists. Dennis twisted them free from Oliver's rather strong grip. The four faced one another.

“Where should we start?” Rose inquired.

“I think out of the rain first, plus I could use a bite,” Ronin suggested.

“I... know a shop... we can kip back in,” Oliver said while turning and looking over his shoulder. “Not far.”

Dennis clapped the man on the shoulder and said: “Lead the way, Ollie.”

The elder Wood held out an arm without turning his head around. Dennis got the impression he wracked his brain trying to remember the location. Half a second later the notion got scrapped. Oliver, he thought, would likely remember this part of Edinburgh until his dying day. It probably got seared into his memory on the fateful day his home got overrun. The effects of the story still affected Dennis when he reached out and wrapped his fingers around Oliver's forearm. Rose held the man's hand, and Ronin seized his brother's wrist. Seconds later, the foursome disappeared between the drops of rain.


	3. Chapter 3

An afternoon spent lounging in a secure building with plenty of canned but unspoiled food, a supply of bottled water, and the sounds of the zed blocked out did much to improve the spirits of the group. While finding Oliver's old house came rather easy, learning what took place did not. Even though the replenishment buoyed the quartet, each remained a bit subdued. Dennis knew Ronin took time to console his brother. Rose appeared to reflect on her personal losses. He found quiet place for himself.

Dennis did not reminisce because he felt oddly removed from past events. His parents died while he went off on an adventure to find the remaining relatives of one of the Hogwarts' portrait personalities. He got word when he returned to Hogwarts that a zed invasion started a fire that burned down the neighborhood where he grew up. His parents could not escape due to the undead and died in the flames. Aunts, uncles, cousins also suffered various fates due to the zombies. Within a three year span of time starting shortly after the first zed arrived in England, Dennis found himself without any immediate family or most of his extended family. In his backpack he carried Colon's old wand and a family picture taken the summer before Colin died in battle. He shared the news with the ghosts he knew at Hogwarts, and they lent as much comfort and counsel as they could. From that day forward Dennis never claimed a permanent residence. Beyond that, Dennis tended not to dwell because he learned early on the inevitability of death.

“Still up, mate?” Ronin's voice crept through through the quiet of the room Dennis chose to sleep in, a fairly large utility closet.

“I am,” he quietly answered.

Ronin pulled open the door and sat down. He wore a silly, wooly robe purloined from the residence rooms on the upper floor so his clothing could be laid out to dry. Dennis did the same, but he got lucky and found a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt. He planned on keeping the clothing. Ronin stuck the handle of his wand into his armpit so the glowing end provided light and freed his hands. Dennis used his to study the map of Edinburgh. He switched gears and studied his friend, and tried not to linger on the exposed calf.

“What you did for Oliver back on the roof...”

“Don't thank me, Ronin,” Dennis cut into what he assumed would be a statement of gratitude. “It wasn't an act of kindness. Ollie had information he needed to give us, and... that was the only way to get him to talk.”

Ronin gazed at the floor before he replied: “You're such a fucking liar, Denny. I saw the look on your face... and you were crying when he got to the bad part. Plus, you don't joke around ‘bout Colin.”

Dennis shrugged.

“Want to hear something strange?” His friend inquired.

“Sure.”

“I don't really remember you from school.”

“Well, I am a year younger, and you were in Hufflepuff and I got into Gryffindor, plus all that shit going on with the Voldemort war, so I can't say as I blame you for that,” Dennis listed the probable reasons. He failed to mention he remembered Ronin quite well.

“The memorial was awful,” Ronin remarked and stared off into the distance. “Sitting there listening to all the names of students who died in the fighting.”

“I didn't go.”

Ronin gaped. Dennis sat up so he more squarely faced his friend. He found it interesting Ronin wanted to talk about the old days back in Hogwarts. The reason why stayed a mystery.

“Didn't want to. I couldn't sit there with all those people crying... watching my parents go through that. I just went and hid at the bottom of the lower level stairs in the main keep. I just held onto Colin's wand thinking if I tried hard enough, practiced with everything I had, maybe... maybe I could bring him back,” Dennis admitted what few knew.

“Can't picture you as a necromancer,” the younger Wood brother muttered.

“Neither did Farmanus Fecamp, the master of the midden.”

Ronin blinked in clear confusion.

Dennis smirked and said: “I found the picture of Farmanus at the bottom of the stairwell. He fell off the wall during the battle, and no one went to look for lost paintings for a long time. I found most of them. Anyway, he spoke early English with a lot of ancient German in it, but we figured out how to talk. He mostly wanted to know what a short, skinny kid with hair like mine was doing so far down in the stairs. Said I'd probably get killed.”

“What's the master of the midden bit?” Ronin inquired.

“Farmanus specialized in cleaning the loos at Hogwarts back in his day somewhere around the end of the twelfth century, ‘cept they didn't have loos back then. Know what a midden is?”

For the next ten minutes Ronin got a detailed description of the old middens in Hogwarts, how they operated, and what Farmanus Fecamp did to make them work better. Ronin became amused and appalled in equal measure. It brought Dennis a bit of comfort to know one of his portrait friends gained a tad more reputation. He felt it paid back some of the kindness Farmanus showed him on that bleak day in his youth.

“So you honestly hung out with the ghosts and pictures? I thought that was just the other students giving you the old bizzo.”

“All true. It all started ‘cause Colin and I were – how would you say? – kind of amped up back then.”

“You mean hyper?” Ronin attempted to clarify.

“Sure, if you want to be polite about it,” Dennis said with a laugh and drew one out of Ronin. He liked the sound of it. “Look, he and I came from a muggle family. When Colin got his acceptance letter, we spent the end of the summer reading Hogwarts: A History. He wanted to know everything about the place. He didn't know I could do magic, too. I hid it from him and our folks. When I got my letter, I thought my parents were going to shit on themselves. Two wizards from the same muggle family, go figure, huh? Colin got so excited and couldn't wait for me to get there.”

Dennis, although he smiled at the memory, also sounded sad and his voice dropped in volume.

“Mom and Dad didn't let us go back during my fourth year, Colin's sixth.”

“Yeah, I remember Colin being absent. He always had that damn camera taking pictures of everything,” Ronin added.

“He loved that thing. I knew all about Hogwarts when I got there ‘cause he sent back some amazing pictures he took during his first two years and letters describing everything. Did you know I fell out my boat on the first year crossing and the giant squid saved me?” Dennis said and asked.

“I heard that happened to someone. Didn't know it was you.”

“See? Spastic right from the start.”

Both men laughed. The lapsed into companionable silence when it died down. More thoughts came to Dennis, and he decided to tell Ronin a specific reason for his actions.

“Ro, part of why I did what I did for Ollie today... he found Colin's body after the battle and brought it back into the castle. Neville Longbottom helped. I heard McGonagall tell my parents about it. She said Ollie was real gentle with him, respectful. I remember that the most about what she said to them.”

“Oliver never told me that,” Ronin admitted. “We both were there and fought, but got separated. I ended up fighting some Death Eaters over in the Transfiguration Hall with a couple of the professors and prefects. He was out in the entrance the whole time.”

“Colin wouldn't let me go to the battle. He made me promise to take care of our parents while he went off to fight. I sat in a room at my aunt's house with that galleon burning in my hand. I was so scarred for him,” Dennis said in a small voice as he stared at the bare leg of Ronin. “I never told my parents he went. They were terrified of everything going on.”

“We all were, so no foul there.”

“They tried to stop me from going back to school when it was over. That's how scared they were, but... I had to. I kept trying to find Colin's ghost at Hogwarts. He never showed. None of the other ghosts ever saw him,” and he paused for a moment. “Madame Herbard, one of the scullery ghosts, told me not everyone who dies a violent death comes back a ghost. She said Colin must've been peaceful in his mind when it happened. Said it meant he knew he was loved and who loved him... and during his last moments that's what he thought of.”

When Dennis glanced up, he saw his friend with watery eyes and asked: “Ronin?”

“No, no, mate. S'all good,” the man said and wiped his eyes. “Can't imagine what I would've done without Oliver. It kills me to think you went through that and... then everything else when they found out about you and... and... you're one of the best blokes I know and... you helped my brother.”

“Ollie helped mine... in the end, when it really counted.”

Ronin scrutinized him for a short while. Dennis sat under the intense gaze wondering what went through the man's head. He realized the conversation took on rather maudlin tone, but the events tended to be weighty. It felt right given the current circumstances. When Ronin persisted, it started to make him uncomfortable.

“Ro?” He begged with the name.

The light from the wands, although glowing at only quarter power as agreed to by the group, shed a white light. It gave a ghastly pallor to the skin. However, it did not reduce the pleasant color of Ronin's eyes.

“I can't figure out how you didn't turn into a right bloody bastard after all that,” his friend stated.

“Sure, I didn't have a lot of living friends at Hogwarts, but I did have good friends. The ghosts and portraits looked after me in their own way. They were always willing to talk. They didn't judge me. I learned a hell of a lot from them ‘bout all sorts of things,” Dennis rejoined in a happier tone. “More than a few of the people in the pictures were gay in their lifetimes, and they tried to give me advice. It was really bad, out of date advice, but they tried.”

“Is that how you knew about the weapons in the museum? You know too much about these things by the way.”

Dennis nodded and grinned. Silence fell over them again. Whatever Ronin might think, Dennis did not harbor ill feelings toward the school or the students who attended with him. While he did put up with rather constant verbal abuse from some of the students – the ghosts would not tolerate physical abuse if they were around, and Dennis always kept company with them – and a host of mean-spirited pranks, he felt stronger for enduring and avoiding bitterness. He never feared being alone or his own company. It helped him become resilient and made his long, solo journeys possible. Dennis always knew he could survive just about anything. When the zed plague began and grew worse, he did not doubt he would see it through.

“I think you might be one of the few people who learned more at Hogwarts than what they taught us,” Ronin intoned, breaking the silence. “That's pretty impressive.”

“Want to hear the truly impressive part?”

Ronin took his turn nodding. From that point on the two spent hours discussing the magic the ghosts and portraits taught him, a lot of which the headmistress and the professors would decry. Ronin leaned back against the doorjamb while he asked questions, commented, and listened. At the same time Dennis got Ronin to talk about himself. After graduating from Hogwarts, Ronin worked for a social services group specializing in assisting elderly witches and wizards who did not have much family. Many required full-time assistance to make certain they did not injure either themselves or others. More than few needed to be placed in Saint Mungo's. Ronin focused on finding helper witches and wizards, often new graduates who lacked other employment prospects, and placed them with aged. It impressed Dennis that Ronin would do the work, although Ronin did not sound entirely proud of his achievements. The last half hour saw Dennis trying to convince Ronin the man did much to ensure fewer ghosts existed in the world. Ronin seemed doubtful.

The foursome spent a second day in the shop when the rain did not end. It came down harder for the entirety of the daylight hours. It worked in their favor since it gave them a chance to fully recuperate. Oliver appeared nearly back to normal by mid-day, although none could blame him for his somber mood at times. They decided to thrash out their plans. They gathered at the dining table in the flat above the shop. The map hung over the edges of small dinette table, so they tacked it to a wall and moved the table over so they could sit, drink tea, and debate. In a fit of cleverness, Dennis used a series of charms and transformation spells to help automate the task. Rose and the Wood brothers watched him, and then demanded he teach them the spells once they saw the effect it produced in the map. He did, and it gave him further ideas for the future.

Dennis' spellwork caused the map to highlight the part of the city they discussed. It also printed out in small text the objective they meant to achieve at the location. Furthermore, it numerically ordered the places based on proximity to one another, and switched the ordering around when a shorter route got found. Dennis made certain their paths followed along rooftops since the foursome already found it the best way to travel. He then added a few tweaks to help keep them on task. The locations got color-coded from red through green, using the rest of the color spectrum in between, to display the critical order that eventually ended when they landed outside the city boundaries. The map glowed with detail when they finished.

“Brilliant work that is, Denny. Dinnea know ye knew spells like that,” Oliver complimented him.

“Eh, I picked a few up here and there,” Denny tried to deflect the compliment.

“Shut it, Creevey,” Ronin said with a laugh. “You actually managed to learn something at school.”

Dennis felt his cheeks flush a bit because his friend encoded the conversation from the night before into the comment.

“Well, I feel better knowing how we're going to tackle this. I still don't understand why you don't want to go to the docks first,” Rose rumbled as she used a finger to trace through their expected path.

For fifteen minutes they debated again the necessity of starting with the place where the zed invasion began. Oliver and Ronin argued the city never got the chance to mount a defense at the docks. Oliver said he knew the residents of Edinburgh focused on containing the zed through a series of blockades at various important intersections of roads. The map flickered and changed as they discussed, and in doing so the group saw patterns they never considered in their first session. Two hours later the stood reviewing their revised plan.

“It's kind of a spiral,” Dennis noted as he titled his head to the side while scanning the map. He needed to hold his long reddish-blonde hair out of his eyes, and wondered if he should ask one of the other to trim it for him.

“Not a bad plan. It'll give a better view of things as we move through the city,” Oliver stated in a pleased tone.

“Still think we should check the docks,” Rose muttered.

Ronin groaned while Dennis outright laughed. He caught a sly wink from Rose who seemed to understand the Wood brothers too easily fell into group-think with each other. It showed the closeness of the two. Dennis instantly shut down the sense of envy he began to feel by reminding himself of what Oliver did for his family so long ago. If anything, he thought, he needed to defend and support the ties between the brothers. Again he noted the younger brother stood taller than the older one, but they had the same eye color and their noses looked very similar. One could definitely see the blood ties in them.

They avoided the argument and decided to stick to the revised plan. Ronin deftly summarized the main objective: discover how the zed advanced through the city and the direction in which the residents fled. Nearly half a million people lived in Edinburgh at one point, and no one in the group thought they saw that many zed in the streets. Hence, survivors must exist somewhere by their logic. Rose eventually gave up her needling, which Dennis started to enjoy after a while, and accepted the route. For one hour they reviewed the exact details of their path in case any of them got separated. Oliver brought up the notion of making copies of the map, but Dennis could not figure out a way to transfer all of the magical details to the copy without enchanting each copy. Thus, they spent time in the evening annotating smaller city tourist maps they found in the old store. Each got a copy, but the main map remained a question.

“I'll carry it,” Dennis offered. “I've been dealing with the zed out in the open for so long I know how to avoid them.”

“That map will draw them to ye like flies to honey,” Oliver cautioned yet again, the very statement that changed the topic of conversation. “Ye loaded it full to the brim with spells, ye did.”

“We're sticking to the roofs, so we should be okay ‘les the zed figure out how to climb drainpipes,” Rose reminded them.

“They might follow in the street,” Ronin posited.

“How much magic do you think is in this map now?” Dennis quailed, although he privately appreciated the caution they employed.

The other three glanced at one another, and Rose said: “A lot. Some of those charms you used... high powered stuff, Denny.”

“No, it isn't,” he chided. “I've come across some magic you could feel through your boots a hundred meters away. I use the zed to track down things every once in a while. Ever see one gnawing on a spellbook?”

His friend stared at him while he chuckled at some of the more absurd memories in his head.

“What?” He rounded on the trio.

“Have you gone barmy, mate? You use the zed?” Ronin unexpectedly grumped.

“Look, they're slow and stupid and predictable,” Dennis countered. “It's only when you get caught in large groups of ‘em that you get into serious trouble.”

“They might be slow and stupid and predictable, but their also single-bloody-minded. I had one chase after me for three days,” the lone female of the quartet snapped at him. “And it picked up others along the way!”

Dennis quickly realized whatever he said would not appease his friends. He saw fear in their eyes, a very justified and understandable reaction, but he also knew how to conduct himself. The amount of time he spent out in the open taught him about the zed and safety. Absolutely no desire to get bit and die resided in him. He frowned as he folded his arms.

“Now what?” Ronin grumbled.

“How long have we be getting on together through this?” He asked.

“Three... four months now... coming up on five, I think,” Oliver replied.

“Just a month and some spare days for me,” Rose clarified.

“And did I ever lead you into a situation we couldn't get out of?”

“There was that one time in Falkirk...” Ronin stated to say.

“That one was on me,” Oliver said, stepping up to own his mistake. “He told me not to open that warehouse door.”

“Yeah, right,” his brother mumbled at the admission.

“We had a close shave getting into Gyle. That blocked alley saved us,” Rose noted, but spots of pink showed on her cheeks.

“No, you decided throwing rocks at them was a good idea,” Dennis rejoined in a stern voice. “Look, mates, I use my head. I've been out on the road a long time on my own: over two years now. I've watched these rotters, studied them, and... I feel like I kind of know them.”

“Ye're radge in that way, Denny. These facking things are nae yer friends!” The elder Wood rounded on him.

“You've seen me chopping off their heads, right, or driving whatever I can find into their skulls? Usually through their eyes.”

Oliver nodded, as did the other two.

“Is that how friends treat each other?” Dennis coyly inquired and gamely blinked his eyes at them.

Ronin snorted as he tried to cover a laugh. Oliver and Rose both smirked. The tension began to ease out of the room.

“I'll be careful, I promise. If we stick to the roofs, the zed will never sense the map... and how do they do that anyway?”

“Sort of goes hand-in-hand with being deed an' alive at the same time,” Oliver stated through his grin and a shrug.

“I suppose,” Dennis partially agreed. That aspect of the zed troubled him to no end, and he could find no rationale explanation for the behavior. “Now, are we agreed I'll carry the map?”

One by one his friends nodded their heads. He wanted to tell them how much it meant to him when they worried over his safety, but he suspected it would only sponsor even more unnecessary caution in the future. Instead, he committed the past few conversations to memory.

“Right, now we hit the beds early tonight and get up at first light?” He inquired.

“Another late lie in'd be nice,” Rose mumbled. Ronin gently elbowed her. The corners of her mouth twitched.

“No lie in,” Dennis affirmed. “Now, pack as much food as you can, but check to make sure it's not gone off... and nothing too heavy. Don't forget you might be hauling it a while.”

“So the ham…?” Oliver wistfully queried.

The rest burst out laughing. When they first entered the shop and made certain no zed occupied it, they started hunting for food. In one of the non-functioning cold cases they found old packages of shaved meat, and the ham looked like prepackaged chunks of undead. Rose threatened to get sick if they did not close the door. It served as a warning they needed to inspect each and every food item they collected. In the time they spent together, urban foraging skills got honed. They tossed aside cans with bulging ends or sides. They avoided ones with ingredients known to cause food poisoning, and that eliminated quite a few. In the end the wound up with a collection of items so chock full of chemicals and preservatives the items stood a good chance of lasting into the next millennium. They found canned goods over five years-old that remained edible. Dennis, and he suspected the others, tried not to actively think of the ramifications.

“Feels like I should leave a galleon or two for Joe and Nadine in case they make it back,” Oliver said, and his tone completely reversed.

Dennis leaned forward and said: “We might just find them, Ollie. We've got a good plan to search them out.”

Oliver nodded once and looked grim. Everyone could tell thoughts of his family followed quickly after the ones about the shopkeepers. The shift in tone acted like a signal to end the planning meeting. Rose got up and stated she needed to see to some lady details. Oliver's lips twitched at the euphemism, and he silently thanked the woman for her cagey tactic. Ronin said he needed to finish packing and headed toward the stairs. After a few seconds, Dennis shrugged, stood, and wandered down to the supply closet he used.

Dennis woke on his own with the rising sun. The others remained sleeping, and he let them be while he completed his ablutions and slid into his now dry clothes. Then he prepared a surprise for his friends. He tried to be as quiet as possible, but ended up waking Rose. When Rose woke, so too did the Wood brothers due to her yelling for them up the stairs. In less than a half an hour, the team assembled in the dining room of the second floor flat. At one end stood the roof access ladder. Ronin still appeared sleepy, but Oliver seemed ready to depart that second. Dennis forced them to check their packs a second time while he briefly revisited the plan. Before they departed, he unveiled a pot of coffee he made.

“Great Merlin's beard!” Ronin sighed with pleasure as he inhaled the aroma. “Haven't had a decent cup-a in ages!”

Dennis poured out four cups. He then held his aloft. The other followed suit.

“Success,” he simply stated for a toast and hoisted his cup a bit higher.

“Success,” the others repeated bout the toast and action.

The short delay while they enjoyed the steaming beverage bothered no one. Dennis, as big a fan of tea as any, always preferred coffee in the morning. He could scarcely remember the last time he and the others enjoyed some, so when he located a can of grounds not gone totally stale he made preparations. In his experience, it always helped to start a journey on a positive note.

The quartet exited the shop into a sky still crowded with clouds and streets still occupied by zed. Two days of rest and relaxation made them feel completely different after the visit to Oliver's old home. The set out with a goal, a method to achieve it, and a sense of purpose. It involved using the same technique of apparating from spot to spot, and the previous day they worked out a schedule of rotation to ensure no one got exhausted. Ronin held out his arm, he drew the first round of duty, and the others each touch a part of it.

“Okay, back to Trinity we go,” he announced the first stop, and the apparation began.

For half a day the group blinked through the city. They visited locations where multiple roads met, as agreed, since it seemed the likely places where defenses would be raised. Throughout the northeast part of Edinburgh they found no evidence of an organized defense. Zed aplenty roamed the streeets, but few barricades. They also looked for signs of life. It became mildly depressing when it seemed the entire city got evacuated. No living humans appeared. When the group stopped for a quick lunch, they discussed their progress.

“I say we head either south or west,” Ronin began and his face crinkled into concentration. “Everything along the coast is open to attack and no resistance. The only spot we saw any fighting was at the West End.”

Dennis noted Ronin mentioned nothing about Holyroad Park. What they found there chilled them to the core. Zed continued to amass as though drawn by something. They watched for fifteen minutes thinking some of their kind might be holding out, but Oliver presented the most logical guess. Holyroad Park, as a magical community enclave, likely reeked of magic from centuries of saturation by the families that lived there. The residual magic lured in the undead. The scorched and wrecked homes acted to confirm his theory when the dead wandered in and out of the derelict buildings.

“West and north,” Rose countered. “Denny told us over and over the zed were coming in from the south.”

“When I left Glasgow, they were retreating from the zed there,” Dennis added, “and that was a month before I ran into Ollie and Ro. They're coming in from the west, too.”

“So, north then?” Oliver concluded for them.

Dennis thought for a moment and replied: “Any coastal town is going to have a problem with infected ships docking there... just like what happened here. I heard when they bombed London boats sailed out faster than they could inspect them. Lot of zed got out that way.”

“And through the flue network,” the elder Wood said in tight voice.

No one needed to say that development probably doomed far too many magical households.

“Look, what we've seen so far doesn't tell us anything. We need to figure out where the refugees... survivors went. We tried here, people, but it's not panning out,” Rose stated what Dennis suspected they all thought.

“No, no it isn't,” Dennis glumly agreed. He squared his shoulders, gazed out over the rooftops, and let his mind operate without conscious thought. It threw out an interesting list. “All right, so here's what we know: can't be next to the sea, can't be on an open waterway like a broad river or channel, can't be part of the flue network, probably needs muggle armies nearby, and some place where the zed have a hard time moving. So where's that exactly?”

Ronin and Rose gave him a baffled look. Oliver seemed to be lost in depressing thoughts. The foursome sat and pondered their dilemma. What began so promisingly that morning rapidly fizzled as they discovered Edinburgh to be abandoned. The zed apparently hit too fast for them to mount an adequate defense let alone an offense. The city got consumed during the time Oliver and his family remained locked in their house. Suddenly Oliver's head popped up and he wore a strange grin. He gazed at Ronin.

“Ro! Lucrais!” The man nearly shouted.

Ronin jumped to his feet, grinning as well. Dennis and Rose watched the brothers and wondered what it meant. Oliver snicker and Ronin rolled his eyes.

“Um, mates?” Dennis prompted them.

“Oor great Uncle Duff burned himself up using the firestorm spell long a-fore Ro or I was born. Da said he was a daft bugger to begin with, but Auntie Lucrais wasn't. She's a smart old witch what doesn't give a wee fig to be ‘roond people much. It's a safe bet she might fit your criteria,” Oliver said in what amounted to awe.

“Oh, aye. She'd wouldn't be connected to the flue network,” Ronin agreed. “And you'd never guess where she lives?”

Neither Dennis nor Rose bothered to make a guess.

“In Allanabrae Cairn,” the younger Wood brother declared.

“She lives in a tomb?” Rose drolly responded.

“Don't play silly buggers,” Oliver shot at her. “Allanabrae Cairn is deep the Cairngorms. Zed would have a devil of time getting there.”

“But can we get there?” Dennis asked the obvious question.

“Aye, no other castle looks anything like the Braemar. It's the closest one to her place. Both Oliver and I can apparate there,” Ronin supplied the answer.

“And to get to Allanbrae?” Rose inquired.

“Allanabrae,” Oliver correcter her. “We could send an owl to Auntie Lucrais and see if she'd be willing to meet us.”

The witch and the wizards then settled into a discussion about the value of going to Allanabrae to meet with Wood's aunt. Dennis did not think it a place where people would naturally flock to escape the zed menace based on the fact hardly anyone would know it existed. Oliver and Ronin could not refute that. Rose, however, said that Castle Braemar might be place for congregation since many did know about it. That raised the specter of a possible zed infestation. As they debated and discussed the Dennis began to warm to the notion. A highlands castle would offer natural protection, especially one located deep in a rustic park. When he revealed his thoughts, he saw what he said appealed to the others. Edinburgh, he gathered, proved too depressing at the moment. It would be a fight for another day.

“Are you sure you can apparate us all there? That's a long way,” Dennis concluded when the debate seemed over.

“Aye,” Oliver confirmed without pause. “It's nae worse than making half a dozen jumps here.”

The each knew what that felt like, and it did not prove to be entirely exhausting.

Ronin stood up while he said: “And if nothing comes of it, we can always return here and pick up where we left off.”

The junior Wood brother effectively closed the loop. Dennis no longer could think of a reason not to check out Castle Braemar at very least. He stood. Oliver stood, and then Rose. Oliver held out his arm.

“Where are we going to find an owl?” She blurted as though the thought just occurred to her.

“At Braemar. They have an owlry,” Oliver told her.

When no one posed any further questions, Oliver counted down from three, and the four people disappeared from Edinburg. Long distance apparation ended up being a literal gut-wrenching experience.

Four magic users landed on their hands and knees in a field north of the castle. The sensation of being repeatedly turned inside out and twisted around left the each in the group with a terrible case of motion sickness. Dennis heaved and wretched as he waited for the world to stop spinning. Vomit dribbled from his mouth as he faced the green grass. He heard reports of the others doing the same. It took a minute before he managed to gain his feet. When he did, he spun around to face the castle.

“Shit!” Dennis yelled when he saw what transpired.

Zed swarmed up the hummock upon which the castle stood. The number of undead proved hard to count, but he also saw some in the field where they landed, and the undead moved in their direction. Dennis ran from friend to friend to help them to their feet. He drew his sword, and his action informed the others on what to do. Although they lacked practical experience with the weapons, he thought it good they instinctively reached for them. They formed a square with wavering sides as they fought off the effect of the long-distance teleportation. The zed slowly advanced toward the group.

Dennis got tired of waiting and danced out to meet the monstrosities. He started giggling as he raised his weapon. The sword cut through the space ahead of him, gleaming in the diffused light coming from the clouds. A zed head popped off and rolled through the air. A moan on his right told him where to strike next. He lunged and sliced off a dead arm. On the return back swing, something he practiced for months on end. He severed enough of the undead neck so the body stopped moving. More groans. More thrusts. More kicks. More chopping. Dennis barely noticed the others engaged the zed as well. Given the ample space, they worked as a spread out team. Oliver and Ronin used their maces to greater effect. He saw Rose try to mimic his maneuvers. While only partially successful, she manage to incapacitate her share of zed. The foursome turned lethal, not all of them graceful or skillful by any long measure, but lethal nonetheless. The harder Dennis fought, the more he laughed as his nerves began to twang.

Bodies of the undead lay strewn around them. The respite gave a Dennis a chance to assess the situation. A quick estimation put two dozen zed attempting to take the castle and another dozen or so making an approach. He considered the odds to be roughly even. Humans would grow tired after hefting their weapons around for a while. They would become clumsy and lose effectiveness. His mind rapidly sifted through the input as he tried to construct a strategy. In the midst of doing so, Dennis watched the castle. Then the surreal nature of landing within a zed attack got explained. He saw flashes of light of different colors along the parapet of the castle. He nearly stopped moving.

“Denny, we've got to get out of here now,” Ronin yelled at him and thrust his arm forward in invitation to apparate.

Dennis batted it away, pointed to the castle, and said: “No, look!”

His friends took their eyes off the zombies in the field moving toward them. After few seconds, he heard exclamations. They understood as well.

“What do we do?” Rose hollered.

“Help them. They're witches or wizards,” Dennis commanded and, without warning, began to sprint up the rising land. His chortling started up anew.

He sensed rather than heard or saw the others join him. During his run he dropped his backpack since it impeded his movements. Dennis believed he heard other thuds behind him. Before him the crackle and hiss of powerful magic in use became audible. Clearly the person who wielded his or her wand did so with considerable skill. Zed got lifted into the air and landed with sickening crunches. Some exploded into showers of dried, gray flesh. They neared the trailing edge of undead, and Dennis lifted his sword. He went into action while a salvo of new laughter ripped out of his mouth.

A place existed inside Dennis' head that recorded all he did in striking clarity. It assessed his movements and strikes, noting the less than perfect hits and wasted motions. It plotted where to strike next and why. In may respects, Dennis entered an altered state wherein he acted without conscious thought. The same held true for his constant giggling and chuckling. He hacked zed apart with frightening efficiency. Every so often he would see his friends fighting, and he made notes on their skills or lack thereof. However, Oliver, Ronin, and Rose acted fearlessly, confronting the undead with nearly the same zeal as Dennis. The four carved a wide path through the throng of zed laying siege to the castle. They made their way up the rise and toward the entrance to the parapets where a magic user slung around tremendous amounts of power.

“They're ignoring us,” Dennis shouted to his compatriots. “They're after the magic!”

“Right!” Oliver called out.

“Just keep hitting and chopping while they're distracted.”

“My arms are getting tired,” Rose loudly complained.

“Then it's lunchtime for the zed,” Dennis unapologetically informed her.

He gave her a quick glance and saw the indignation on Rose's face. It did, however, produce the intended effect. Rose trotted up behind a zed and began hacking at it's neck. Oliver and Ronin spread out a bit and did the same. Dennis, consumed with the feeling his body at work, launched into another assault. He wanted to get to the entry in the castle wall to stem the tide of zed flowing into it. A slight burning in his muscles told him he would pay a price later on, but instinct compelled him to assist the person or people fighting within the castle grounds. Absurd snickering rippled out of him the entire time. Whether one, two, three, or however many, their use of magic at the castle did not aid their cause. Zed rebounded from all but the most potent spells. Whoever led the fight seemed to understand that, and discharged some of the most illegal and worst curses. Yet Dennis knew the people would run out of stamina sooner rather than later, and then they would be at the mercy of the undead, except zed exercised no mercy. Thus, the man fought with all his skill.

Oliver, Ronin, and Rose engaged with nearly the same mania. It still shocked Dennis to see the undead completely ignore the ones slicing through them. The foursome made it to the doorway in the wall, and cut away at the zed within area. Magic sizzled around as they neared the inner grounds. Explosions of acid green, aputrid yellow, radioactive orange, and a deathly purple lit up the area. Dennis hoped the people inside the walled area would be able to tell living from undead, otherwise he and his friends stood a good chance of getting killed by the wrong set of hands. He carved a path to the open archway. Stones and mortar crumbled from the blasts of magic. Few zed took direct hits.

“Stop! Stop!” Dennis began to yell at the tops of his lungs, although he sounded ragged due to his exertions. “Fucking stop with the magic!”

He removed the head of the last zed in front of him, and laughed. Behind him one of other three continued to engage the zombies trying to get into the passage. Again Dennis favored the narrow confines of a passage since it limited what the zed could do more than him. The undead creature dropped and the head rolled forward while he yelled for a cessation. The magic did stop as he burst into the bailey. Braemar Castle did not boast a large footprint, and the inner bailey between the protective wall and the keep ran on the narrow side. Amid a heap of charred, destroyed zed and in front of a small crowd of terrified people a woman dressed in a long brown leather jacket, a coarse-looking blouse, snug jeans with an empty holster dangling on her hip, and leather boots rising nearly to her knees defiantly faced Dennis. Her hair sat tied behind her head, and the dark eyes blazed with rage from a face flecked with the remains of the dead. Dennis inwardly admitted the sight impressed him.

“We're holding them back,” he yelled at the woman. “Get those people inside... and get ready for us to rush in.”

The woman nodded once. She turned to the gathering as Dennis whipped around to help his friends. He found Oliver and Ronin blocking the tunnel by bludgeoning zed heads. Several lay at their feet and made the going difficult for the ones further back. Dennis came up beside Rose and replicated her motions. Together the stabbed at the eyes of the undead hoping to make contact with the brain.

“Start moving backward, but don't stop killing them,” he ordered and giggled

“Me arms are nearly deed, Denny, and stop that bloody laughing,” Oliver yelled.

“Mine, too,” Ronin added.

“Just a little longer, mates. Just a little longer. They're going to hold open a door for us. Get ready to run when you hear the signal.”

“'Bout fucking time,” Rose groused.

Less than a minute later, Dennis heard a sharp whistle in the distance.

“Knock ‘em down and then run,” Dennis instructed. “And really run!”

He grabbed Rose by the collar and started hauling her away. She took the hint, spun on one foot and fled for the inner bailey. As one the Wood brothers bashed the zed they faced, knocking them backward. Although neither creature fell, it afforded them the chance to turn and flee. Dennis led them out. Diagonally from the archway they saw the woman waving at them where she stood next to a door. The four hightailed it to the person, hopping over the bodies of zed along the way. She stood aside as they dashed into the interior room. The door made of thick timber banded together with pig iron shut with a loud boom. The sounds of ancient metal locks being engaged issued around them. Dennis let out with a guffaw and tried to stem his nervous reaction while trying to catch his breath.

“Put that bar in place,” the woman told some of the people standing in the room.

Dennis, dragging in big drafts of air in his lungs, faced the woman. She suspiciously eyed him. Fatigue sapped at him and he did not respond in kind.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” She demanded.

“We're...”

“Katie!” Oliver hollered from behind.

The woman looked positively gobsmacked.


	4. Chapter 4

The shouted name hung in the air. The woman leaned over and looked past Dennis. Her face lit up like she saw the sun after a long darkness. Dennis became befuddled when she spoke.

“Oliver Wood, as I live and breathe,” she exclaimed. “What the hell are you doing here... and what are you doing with that... bat.”

“Mace, and I could ask ye the same thing,” Oliver said, panting, as he strolled forward and let the mace drop to his side.

The two clearly knew one another as they stepped into a tight, one-armed embrace.

“Rose!” Katie burped out her name when spied over Oliver's shoulder, and then: “Ronin!”

“Hello, Katie,” Rose burbled the name with total glee.

Ronin simply lifted a hand in greeting, and a wide smile crossed his face.

Half-remembered bits of information snapped together in Dennis' head. He recalled hearing about the first quidditch team Harry Potter played on, and the woman's name got counted among them. As Dennis assembled the bits and pieces in his head, he studied the group of people huddle against the wall that Katie just tried to save. He found it both interesting and odd they did nothing to assist in the fight against the zed. Then again, they looked too long in the tooth to be of much help. Strange questions arose, and he expected the answers to be equally unusual.

“Who's the bloke?” Katie gruffly asked when she and Oliver parted.

“Dennis Creevey,” Oliver told her, but he only received a blank stare.

“Brother of Colin Creevey, one of the..."

“Didn't know he had a brother,” Katie interjected. “Doesn't much look like him.”

“And how much do you remember ‘bout Colin?” Dennis coolly inquired.

“Three or four years behind me, short, wound up like a terrier, had a fascination with muggle cameras,” the woman replied and her eyes turned to slits as she seemingly struggled to remember.

“Impressive,” he replied, and he meant it. “Now, what brings you to Braemar and why were you defending those people?”

Katie took on a defensive visage. Her fists got planted on each hip as she squared herself. She glanced over to Oliver, then Ronin, and finally to Rose.

“He's a good one, Katie. Bailed us oot of more than one tight spot. Absolutely brilliant with a sword. Ye might've missed he hacked ‘is way into the courtyard,” the elder Wood told her, his brogue became more pronounced with each sentence.

The held still before asking: “He's your leader then, Wood?”

“I wouldn't say...” Oliver began until he glanced at Dennis. “Nae, nae, he is, Katie. Comes up with the plans and takes us through ‘em. Pretty fearless by most standards. Knows the zed something a treat. Killer with a blade.”

“Fine, Mister Leader. Where're you off to next?” Katie hurled at Dennis.

“Trying to find Oliver's wife and children,” Dennis began.

Kate whipped around, faced Oliver, and said: “Oliver, not Mysie? Your children?”

It looked as if Oliver's stomach dropped out worse than it did when they arrived in the field. His skin took on a pallid cast, and his eyes appeared haunted. His throat bobbed as he swallowed hard.

Dennis came to the fore and said: “We don't think they're dead... or the other kind.”

Katie ignored him and continued to center on Oliver, then she asked: “Where were you looking for them?”

“Edinburgh... the old... house,” Oliver replied in a stilted manner, and he jammed his hands into the pockets of his pants.

“Why in the hell would you go into Edinburgh? The place is packed tight with zombies.”

“We needed to see the house to get a better underst...”

Katie twisted her head around and gave Dennis such an angry look it stopped him mid-sentence. He could not imagine what he did to draw her ire. Her eyes all but smoldered.

“You went into Edinburgh armed only with a sword and left them defenseless?”

“We're not defenseless, Katie. You should see what we did together out on the green,” Ronin bluntly answered her.

“It's insane bringing magic folk anywhere in a place like that. It's not like they'd go after him!” She rounded on Ronin.

“Oh, you mean the won't chase me down even if I carry one of these?” Dennis said, finally catching a glimpse of her overall meaning, and reached into jacket. He produced his wand and twirled it in his fingers.

“You're a wizard?” Katie barked at him.

“I am just as much as you're a witch,” he calmly responded.

Her face changed when confusion replaced anger, and she inquired: “Why'd you use a sword?”

“You're aware magic attracts the zed, aren't you?”

The woman nodded.

“Then why were you standing in the bailey doing everything you could to draw them to you?”

“Protecting these people,” Katie said and jerked a thumb in the direction of the completely silent group of who did nothing more than watch the exchange. “Squibs. Trying to get them out of Perth to a safe zone. Dunkeld and Bankfoot got overrun, so we kept heading north. Figured The Caingorms might be safe, but then found slaggers all over the place when we got to the castle. Fucking tourists brought it here. There're another two busloads of those monsters out back.”

Katie acted as though she did not just treat Dennis in a hostile fashion. As he listened, he heard the strain in her voice. She stood alone against numerous zed trying to guard people who, by all appearances, did nothing to protect themselves. Her demeanor began to make more sense.

“Katie, how'd ye end up sitting for a bunch of squibs?” Oliver asked.

“Hey, we're right here, you tosser,” a stout woman angrily exclaimed. Her tartan skirt and dark shirt bore stains, and the graying knot of hair on her head barely held together.

“I'm tired of your mouth, Amanda, when all you do is hide in the back the whole time! So shut it, pillock!”

No love lost there, Dennis thought to himself. The group of people, fourteen by his count, showed greater animation now that one of their number spoke up. Many of them began to grumble.

“Took us right into a trap, missy,” an elderly man said with a quavering voice.

“We needed diesel and I told what I wanted to do when we got here. No one told you to get out of the lorry,” Katie spat at the man.

“It was hot in there, and Darcy has the winds,” another woman complained and tried to straighten her obscenely turquoise slicker.

“We haven't had a decent thing to eat for three days, and my stomach is sensitive,” someone countered from the back.

“Right!” Katie yelled at the top of her lungs. “One more word and I'm pushing the lot of you out of the castle. You can go fend for yourselves if you don't give me a minute to sort this out!”

The group quieted down, but in an unpleasant manner that threaten to unleash another verbal tirade. Katie snapped her head back and forth. She fixed her burning glare on several specific people. When she seemed satisfied, she looked back at Oliver.

“How did you four wind up at this place?” Katie asked the man.

“Oor aunt lives in Allanabrae, and we were hoping she might know where the Edinburgh folk got to,” Oliver told her.

“Last I heard they were heading for North Loch Katrine in the Trossachs, but that was months ago, Oliver. Never did hear if they made it. Why'd you think they'd come this far north?”

The color from Oliver's face drained again.

“Several reasons,” Dennis entered the discussion. “We already told you main ones: their aunt, her possible knowledge, and sanctuary. After we find his wife and children, they will need a safe place to live.”

Katie slowly turned toward him, and she blinked rapidly while contemplating what Dennis said. Ronin and Rose watched and seemed willing to let Dennis speak for them. Katie's volatile temper made her less than appealing. In the midst of her private ruminations, something hit the door to the room. Moans started slipping in. Several of the squibs started screaming the undead were going to get them. Dennis saw the thickness of the door and the crossbar, and he doubted that would happen. In the meanwhile, Katie's face turned beet red. He prodded her throat with her wand.

“I told you to keep your mouths shut!” Her voiced boomed through the room.

The people huddled closer together, and the zed pounded harder on the door.

“Katie, if you work with us, we should be able to take out the zed wandering the grounds,” Dennis suggested.

“Only got my wand. Ran out of bullets and lost my gun an hour ago,” she rejoined.

“There are weapons in the castle.”

“And the dead. Saw them wandering past the windows on the upper levels.”

Dennis eyed the door leading into the castle keep, and said the people cowering off to one side: “You should think about barricading the door.”

With that Dennis unleashed a frantic rush. They began to run around the vestibule looking for anything on which to lay their hands. Dennis noticed again the members of Katie's party tended to be much older: elderly, in fact. It brought new questions to mind. She tried to yell at them, but they even ignored her amplified voice. Since panic seemed to be taking shape, Dennis began lending a hand. Oliver, Ronin, and Rose sprang into action as well. Soon every scrap of furniture, a few pieces turned out to be quite heavy, sat stacked against the door leading into the castle. Even if the zed did manage to open the door, the wall of antique furnishing would make entry virtually impossible.

“Thank you,” Katie quietly heaved, and then directed her charges to stay together in one spot. Once they calmed a bit, she focused on Dennis. “You think we can take them all out? There had to be forty or fifty of the dead out there.”

“I think we eliminated over a dozen getting to you, so I'd say, yes, we can most likely get rid of the whole lot,” Dennis slowly said as he considered the odds.

“Still feeling a bit knackered over here, Denny,” Rose said, and she looked it.

Ronin did not seem to fare any better, and Oliver still appeared mentally shocked by the news Katie delivered.

“Let's kip back for half and or so,” he said to his friends. To the squibs he added: “You people can relax and talk quietly. Don't forget the zed are also attracted to noise.”

Several panicked expression got lobbed at him

Oliver, Ronin, and Rose converged with Dennis who converged on Katie. They moved off to one side. Dennis wanted to find out how much she knew.

“Where's Cormac?” Ronin inquired when the settled into a seated circle on the floor.

Katie rolled her eyes, shook her head, and said: “We divorced years ago, Ro, so don't go calling me Mrs. McLaggen. I changed my name back.”

Dennis saw Rose trying to suppress a smile.

“Sorry to hear ‘bout that,” Ronin offered his condolences.

“Don't be. Cormac isn't and neither am I. Don't know what the hell we thinking at the time.”

“Sex,” Oliver blurted out the word.

Rose wrapped her hands around her sides and rolled over onto the floor laughing hysterically. Katie frowned at Rose, but then Ronin started to chuckle. Oliver joined. Finally, Katie let slip with a few giggles. Since Dennis did not know Katie Bell or Cormac McLaggen, except by reputation in Katie's case, he did not understand the levity. He saw the laughter did his friends good, and he smiled in appreciation. To his surprise, Katie turned to him.

“How'd you end up with these gits?” She sarcastically queried.

“Just ran into them on the road” Dennis answered. She did not seem to believe him. “Seriously. I bumped in to Ollie and Ronin in Broxburn, and we started traveling together. We picked up Rose a couple of months later in Wilkieston. We were all trying to find a safe way into Edinburgh, so we started working as a team. Took us about four months to plot a decent course into the city.”

“Why?”

Dennis replied by tilting his head toward Oliver who wiped laughter tears from his cheeks. Katie's mouth turned into a round oh. His compatriots began to calm down.

“Honestly, how'd you wind up herding these people?” He took his turn asking a question.

Katie sigh and said: “I was in Kinnouli Hill trying to find someone when the zombies started showing up. I knew all about them, but the people there thought they were safe. People panicked when the attacks started. This group got left behind when their caretakers ran for their lives. I stuffed them into the back of a truck and started driving. We got over the South Street bridge right as the muggle army closed it... blew it up actually. It was stupid because the dead were already crawling up out of the river, and the living were trapped on the other side of the bridge.”

Dennis heard too many similar stories in the past.

“Managed to get some diesel on the edge of town, and we made for Redgorton. I wanted to drop them there, but the dead beat us. Someone said they came up through Stirling from Glasgow... and just ate their way north. Damn things.”

“I heard the same, so I suspect it's true,” Dennis said hoping to keep Katie engaged and openly sharing. “By the time we found Rose, the zed were everywhere. We didn't know they took all of Edinburgh.”

“You keep calling them zed?”

“Picked it up from the radio... muggle radio. The Yanks call them zee, meaning zombies, so I just adopted it and used our jargon. It's good shorthand.”

Katie nodded her head.

“Heard you say the towns north of Perth already had zed in them? Know why?” He asked a leading question to which he already possessed the answer.

“Not sure. Could be any number of reasons: boats, lorries, sewers, not taking care of the naturally dead right away... who knows?. It's like these things don't know any limits,” the woman told him with an edge to her voice.

Dennis grunted in frustration. His friends, now under control, sat and listened. Oliver looked a little vacant, and Dennis could see the man did not entirely follow the conversation. Ronin and Rose listened with apparent interest. He hoped they felt free to join in.

“Oliver?” He carefully said his friend's name.

“Is... it our fault... the whole epidemic?” Oliver asked, and it shocked Dennis to hear an appraisal of that nature.

Ronin and Rose warily glanced around.

“It think it's everyone's fault and maybe we played a part, but it didn't happen on purpose,” Katie told him, and Dennis let himself breath a bit easier. “It's not like someone in the Ministry was creating the zo... zed and sending them out. No, that would be... He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named level evil.”

A collective shudder went through the room. Katie recovered first. She looked at Oliver with naked concern in her eyes. Dennis hoped she might be able to help comfort him.

“When did you lose track of Mysie and your children? How did you get separated?” The woman, unfortunately, asked the most painful questions.

“Um... ‘boot five months ago,” Oliver said in a dry manner. “A couple of weeks ‘fore Dennis came oor way. Ronin came to help when I sent an owl. After the zed came out of the fireplace, I... fell... oot a window trying to, ah, fight them. Mysie and the children got stuck in the house...”

“Hold on, Oliver. When do you say this happened?”

“Five or so months back.”

“And the zed came through your fireplace?” Katie returned to what he already established.

“Aye. Saw one come through myself,” Oliver confirmed.

Katie sat back a little and eyed her friend. Dennis could tell by her expression something did not add up in the woman's mind. He turned to Ronin and Rose, and they both shrugged a bit indicating the exchange confused them as well.

“You do know when they firebombed London, right?” Katie questioned the elder Wood brother.

“Aboot two and third years ago,” Oliver answered and sounded a bit perturbed by the question.

“Oliver, the flue network invasion happened before the city got bombed.”

Dennis instantly felt like a fool. He never questioned when Oliver's house got attacked, and neither did he question the method. For the first time he saw the huge gap in the timing, yet it stared at him nakedly and open the entire time.

“Ollie, was the Edinburgh network active before London got destroyed?” Dennis queried with a specifically worded question. He retreated into trying to form a plan instead of panicking.

“Um, nae, don't think so,” Oliver said in halting manner. “Heard a bloke in Musselburgh was connected to Berlin and strange things started going on there at the time. Edinburgh disconnected for a while to make sure something hinky dinnae happen.”

Dennis' brain started to overheat as he tried to reconcile what Oliver just said with what he believed for over four months. An ugly feeling crept over him. Firstly, if Edinburgh shut down the flue network to monitor activity when the zed flue invasion initially occurred, then Edinburgh stood as an outlier. The city got attacked via water. It meant the zed either walked over from the main continent or crawled up the coast. He already knew about the boats at the docks. Secondly, somebody restored the network two years after the first flue wave. It probably meant the main network never went down or the zed got trapped in the flue system and survived. The implications staggered him.

“Denny?” Oliver asked with the name.

“Either the main network remained running after the London firebombing or zed can survive being trapped in it,” Dennis began where his thoughts left off. “Ollie, did you ever shut down your flue when Edinburgh left the network?”

“Didn't see the point. We stayed connected even though it was deed. Figured it would save us time once it started working again.”

A common practice in wizarding households, Dennis knew, and now a serious threat throughout the wizarding world. Once a flue got connected, it tended to stay connected no matter what. Moreover, few people went through the pains to maintain an internationally connected flue. Most relied on the local hubs from which they would transfer to national ones when making longer trips. If zed occupied the magical carrier channels at all levels, he thought, then who knew how many zed attacks would occur over time. It could mean the undead plague would never end.

“By the ghost of Merlin,” he whispered in horror.

“Denny, you've got to tell us what you're thinking,” Ronin urged him in a shaky voice.

Dennis did, and shortly thereafter the others sat ashen-faced while contemplating what it could mean in the long run. He wanted to vomit from the way his nerves jangled as he considered the various scenarios that could take shape. Mostly, Dennis hoped to be proven dead wrong. Unfortunately, the attack on Oliver's house said otherwise. It needed to be investigated, but he did not know where to begin.

“Katie, I feel daft for having to ask this, but where did the Ministry set up after London fell? I never asked when I went visited to Hogwarts.”

“Norwich,” Katie told him. “It took about a year to clean out the city, but it wasn't as infested as other places. The River Yare gets boggy and swampy in too many places for the zed to make it through too easily. I see what you're thinking, and you should probably go.”

Oliver immediately looked crestfallen.

“I can't, not now, not until we find Ollie's family,” Dennis refuted the idea.

Katie stared at him as if he lost his mind.

“Where are you headed after you find a place for these people?” He tried to turn the table.

“No, I've got to locate someone before he does something incredibly stupid,” Katie pushed back.

“Who?” Ronin inquired.

“Dean Thomas.”

Oliver and Rose both sat up in surprise at the name. Like Katie Bell and most of the upper classman from his time at Hogwarts, Dennis only knew the person through reputation. Dean Thomas remained a well-liked student during his entire tenure. Word on the street informed him Thomas worked for the Ministry, but therein ended his knowledge of the man.

“Dean?” Oliver said the name as though uncertain why he should be mentioned.

Katie glanced around, especially at the group of squibs who sat chatting among themselves, but started every time a zed hit the outside door. Now that no one used magic, the zed calmed. Dennis kept track and began to plot how they would get out of the castle. Katie scooted closer to the group. She leaned toward Oliver.

“You know he worked as an auror, right?”

Oliver, Ronin, and Rose all nodded. Dennis now knew.

“See, Dean would come to see me at least once a year since we graduated from Hogwarts,” Katie said and slipped into the mode of someone looking down the path of the past. “I think he was sweet on me in school, but... Cormac happened.”

A grin wiggled across Oliver's face.

“I know, I know, but by Weiss he's a good looking man.”

Ronin and Rose stifled chuckles. Oliver's grin turned into a sly smirk.

“Oh, shut it, all of you,” Katie said without any real acrimony. “Dean really enjoyed being an auror. He got to keep in touch with a good number of people from school. He worked with Harry and Ron a lot, and I think it was Harry who got him. Wait a sec, do you know what... no, I can tell by looking at you.”

“Know what?” Rose grunted at the woman.

“Core, but he's going to kill me for telling you this, but... it can't just be me.”

Katie slipped into silence as she went through a visibly internal debate. Her face scrunched and twisted as she evidently weighed various aspects of what she knew. Mostly she looked troubled. Dennis tilted his head a bit.

“Katie, don't say a word if you're violating his trust,” he told her.

“Not that, Dennis. Dean never really told me not to tell anyone, it's just... oh, shit and griffon pocky! Probably better if more than just me knows.”

“I want to know,” Oliver spoke up in a cold, hard voice. “If it explains anything that happened, I want to know aboot it.”

Katie's dark eyes darted from person to person, and again Dennis could see her struggling with what to say. Ronin slowly nodded his head as if agreeing with his brother. Rose already said her piece, and Dennis state his position. The chain maille attached to their jackets jingled a touch when the shifted around waiting for her to decide.

“Dean got caught up into something, he never said exactly what, but... I really believe it's important,” she began. “He showed at my flat in Chelmsford pretty regularly, even after Cormac and I got married. Cormac wasn't too thrilled about that, let me tell you.”

Several mouths flinched and twitched.

“Right after the dead started showing up, things got really busy for him. The Ministry thought it might be a dark wizard attack of some kind, but most of the darks were already caught or under pretty heavy surveillance. He told me more than a few stories about what those people were doing. Did you know they started forming gangs?”  
Four heads shook from side to side.

“Oh, Dean said they...” she seemed excited to say, but both Dennis and Ronin cocked an eyebrow at her. “Check: not important right now. All right, so just about two years from when the dead started attacking, Dean tells me he volunteered to go work at some base over on the continent. Wouldn't tell me where, just that the international council had some ideas they wanted to investigate. He went with Harry and Ron, and both Ginny and Hermione got incredibly angry. They wanted to go, but you know how boys are and Harry wouldn't let them.”

“Oh, I know all about boys wanting to run off into danger,” Rose immediately piped up and cast a bale glance her comrades-in-arms. Dennis struggled to keep his eyes glued to Katie.

Katie chuckled in a nasty, knowing manner, and then continued: “I didn't see Dean for a whole year, but when he showed up again... bloody paranoid and panicked as a boggart. He told me... told me Harry and Ron got killed on their mission pretty early on.”

It felt like something heavy dropped down about them. Dennis blinked in shocked astonishment. For most of his life he lived with the stories of Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley who, along with Hermione, did so much to bring an end to Lord Voldemort. Everyone called them living legends, and they always seemed invincible. From the visits Dennis made to Hogwarts, he learned Harry rose through the ranks of the Ministry. Hermione did as well, and rumor said she would become the next Minister of Magic when Kingsley Shacklebolt decided to retire. However, Dennis found it hard to believe he lived in a world without Harry Potter or Ron Weasley.

“Harry was always nice to me and Colin,” Dennis mumbled as he thought of the two men.

“Dennis, Dean said Harry and Ron died doing something just as important, maybe more important, than when they helped stop He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.”

Dennis nodded and stared at the center spot around which the group sat. He heard the aching silence from the others. The news shook him to the core.

“Dean gave me a vial to hold onto. He said it came from Ron. They were memories,” Katie continued despite the stunned atmosphere. The story grabbed their attention again. “He told me not to look at them, but I couldn't even figure out where I could find a working penseive, and they're bleeding hard to make. So I just held onto them like he asked. Tried not to think about who they came from and what they might be.”

Even her voice dripped with remembered sorrow. Katie sighed. It acted as an expression for the sentiments of the others.

“I kept that vial hidden for over a year. I worried somebody in black robes might show up and demand them from me, but... nobody ever did. Every now and then I'd get an owl from Dean, and he'd cryptically remind me to keep it safe. Like I'd bloody well let anything happen to it.”

The defiance in her words spoke volumes. In the meanwhile, Dennis started to piece together rough calendar of events. By his estimation, Harry and Ron died just over three years ago, and it seemed amazing the news did not spread. That revealed the deaths as incredibly important and worth keeping secret for some unknown reason. The zed plague also played a role as regular communication lines got disrupted and everyone began to suffer extreme losses. Perhaps word did begin to spread, Dennis thought, but the last carrier of the news got killed along the way.”

“So he shows up one day with a pensieve at my place in Ringinglow, I think he nicked the one from Hogwarts,” she said with a smirk. Dennis knew that to be untrue. “He gets the memories and spends a day watching them over and over. Never let me see... not that I think I wanted to ‘cause he looked even more shook when he got finished,” she told them and shuddered. “Then he asks me to look after the vial again. I moved when the dead started closing in from Manchester, and, yes, I took that bloody thing with me.”

Dennis added Katie's emotional reaction to what he knew. He remembered what she endured with a cursed necklace and an imperius curse, and she returned to very place where it happened once she recovered. It proved her both brave and resilient. That the events with Dean would shake her caused him to take note.

“Dean found me in Yorkshire Dales in that little Arncliffe community, although that wasn't really safe, either. He was afraid I lost the vial, the bugger, but I made sure I had it,” Katie said and sounded displeased. “He looked awful. Far too thin, and he was thin to begin with. His color was off, his hair was out of control... and he looked scared. Dean's pretty brave, but whatever he got into spooked him pretty bad. He said he was being hunted and he needed the vial back to keep me safe. He told me to never talk about this with anyone.”

“So why now?” Ronin queried.

“'Cause I can't find Dean. We planned on meeting Birkhill outside of Dundee regardless of how many zed there were – his words, not mine, and there are a lot of dead there – because he needed to tell what was going on. He didn't want to commit it to paper since owls could get captured. I waited for him at Birkhill for two weeks, and he didn't show.”

“Why'd you leave Birkhill?” Rose asked and showed she closely followed the narrative.

“Got too dangerous,” Katie simply stated. “Besides, if Dean didn't make an appearance after two weeks, he wasn't going to show up. Don't forget he's a bloody trained auror, so only something very powerful could stop him.”

In that final sentence Dennis saw what frightened Katie. Aurors garnered a mythical reputation in the wizarding world. They faced danger whenever they went on a mission, and many died trying to complete those missions to keep witches and wizards safe. It sounded as if Harry and Ron died in the line of duty. For Dean to act as he did with Katie, especially showing heightened fear, could not be dismissed. Aurors tended to be imaginative in horrible ways, but they dealt with horrible situations. They also tended to be correct in their assumptions on a regular basis. Dean all but admitted to being on the lam, and his failure to make their meeting provided more than enough reason for concern. It justified Katie's fear.

“So, made my way to Perth to see if I could pick up news and... well, here I am,” she concluded.

“Katie, did Dean ever say who went after him?” Dennis asked.

“No, not a word. Don't forget he didn't want to write any of this down,” she reminded him. “Something about those memories are very, very important. I really wish he'd've let me keep them safe for him. I don't think anyone knew he gave them to me to hold. Then at least I might have something to go on.”

Dennis felt his brow crease as he tried to build a coherent picture from the disparate parts. He did not personally know Dean Thomas, and that put him at a disadvantage. The news regarding the deaths of two of the most famous wizards also continued to interrupt his thought processes. He knew Harry in school and liked the man very much. He knew Ron Weasley thought of him as a bit of a tosser. With only peripheral dealing with Hermione Weasley, and Dennis could not figure out what attracted her to Ron, what he knew of the woman caused him to have great respect for her. His heart went out to Hermione at the loss of her husband. In the same vein, he ached for the lovely Ginny Potter.

“Denny?” Oliver quietly said his name.

“Just... it's a lot to take in,” he confessed, and then sat upright. “But it doesn't change what we set out to do. We now got solid information, thanks to Katie...”

Katie wanly smiled and nodded her head.

“So once we get out of here, we're heading south to The Trossachs.”

“How will you get there?” Katie inquired.

“Walk if we have to, and that's not new to us,” Dennis told her in a firm voice. “Zed or no, we can make it.”

“Armed with swords and maces?” The woman sounded incredulous.

“Made it to you, didn't we?”

Katie blinked at the sharp delivery.

“Like Oliver told you, Denny figured out these zed and he really knows how to fight them. Taught us how to handle ‘em as well. We'll go by foot if it comes down to it,” Ronin said with certainty.

“Doon't get between him and whatever he's swinging at,” Oliver said. “Got a gash on me shoulder to prove it.”

“Ollie, I am so sorry about that,” Dennis apologized for what seemed like the one thousand and first time.

“Well, just goes to show ye had my back, now doesn't it?”

Amid all the unpleasant news, it nearly bowled Dennis over that his friend could find something humorous to say. He started to laugh his nervous chuckle. He peeked at his cohorts, and Ronin and Rose grinned as well. Their eyes looked dark and sullen, but they appeared to appreciate Oliver's pun.

“Can I make you a deal?” Katie said, and she obviously struggled to suppress a smile.

Dennis nodded.

“Help me get them,” and she briefly tilted her head backward, “to someplace safe, and we can use the truck to get to The Trossachs. Besides, I was thinking of going there myself to see if I can find anyone who heard from Dean.”

Dennis surveyed his comrades and said: “Well?”

“Aye,” Oliver agreed first.

Rose nodded.

“Sure, sure,” Ronin said, but he sounded less than enthusiastic. “But where are you going to take this lot?”

Katie and the rest turned to look at the pensive group of people sitting to one side. Dennis found himself getting angry their caretakers would abandon them, and then he felt a surge of pride Katie would take them on when she wanted to attend to other pressing matters. It revealed the quality of her character. While his first sense of priority rested with Oliver, Dennis did not see it as a conflict to assist Katie. After what he witnessed of her abilities in the inner bailey, he thought it might be useful to have another fighter on hand.

“And we just need to get out of here,” Dennis said, and a thud against the door followed a few seconds later.

The quintet then bent their heads together to figure out how best to escape the castle. Dennis never did like hiding in closed room, especially one without windows, and he saw it as their first obstacle. Ronin, however, reminded them of how they took the second floor of the clothier shop in Gayle. Katie said nothing as the four debated various options. Rose suggested it might be better if they worked their way through the castle. Oliver objected since she could not recommend how they would protect the group if the zed came at them from multiple openings. Dennis liked how the man's thinking altered over the previous few weeks.

“What if we use one of them benches as a battering ram to push the zed out of the doorway?” Ronin recommended and pointed to one of the heavy pieces of furniture stacked against the inner door. “You know they don't get up to easily once they're down.”

The reaction of Oliver and Rose told him they liked the idea. With the addition of Katie it meant two people could go on the offensive if two managed the ram and one opened the door. For the first time in a long while, Dennis felt they actually gained favorable odds.

“Could be thirty or more zed out there,” Katie added to the mix.

“Nah,” Rose said and wave away the contention. “Ten at most. We saw a load of them struggling to get to the castle outside the walls. Once you stopped waving your wand around, they probably lost interest.”

“Maybe, but those buggers been banging on the door steady since we've been in here. That's like a lunch bell to the rest,” Ronin remarked.

Once more Dennis felt a swell of pride. Ronin displayed his adaptable mind and brought to light an important factor. He felt his heart skip a beat, and the quickly shoved his internal response to one side. He needed to focus on the reality of the situation and not a childish, fanciful notion.

“But the bailey out there is narrow,” Dennis said and felt his neck heat up in reaction to his thoughts. “They can't flank us, so it'd be a head-on fight. That gives us the tactical advantage.”

“Aye,” Oliver agreed. “Like running ‘em through a meat grinder.”

“Exactly!”

“Great Merlin, you buggers really have done this before?” Katie rumbled in a respectful fashion.

Dennis, Ronin, and Oliver began to chuckle.

“What I wouldn't give for a stick of dynamite right now,” Rose grumbled, but she also grinned.

Dennis noted Katie's happy but stunned expression as they finished their battle plan. Rose reminded them she wanted to find her backpack as well, and thus they found a direction in which to aim their assault. When it came to the group of elderly people, Dennis suggested they stay behind until a path got cleared. The squibs started to argue and protest until Katie yelled at them again. Dennis, in the following silence, explained the odds of their getting attacked and killed if they tried to join in the fray without weapons that happened to be in short supply. It cooled their collective desire to leave the room.

“Who's manning the bench?” Dennis asked.

Against all reason, Katie and Rose volunteered. Dennis let his mouth flop open while the Wood brothers debated the merits of the arrangement. Rose settled the argument by pointing out she still needed training with her sword and would probably pose a threat equal to the zed. Katie, Rose continued, outright lacked a weapon and did not know the fighting style of the group. Hence, in her estimation, it made sense for she and Katie to wield the bench while Dennis and Oliver went to work cutting down the first wave of zed. That left Ronin to open the door and join into the battle once everyone moved forward, and he closed the door she added. Those still in the room would need to replace the bar. Everyone stared at her when she finished.

“What?” She grumbled at the silent attention.

“Um... well thought out, Rose,” Dennis conceded. “Sounds like a good plan to me.”

Oliver and Ronin verbally stumbled over one another, but neither could find a solid objection to the positions Rose described. Katie did not offer an opinion.

“I'm not an idiot,” Rose muttered and went to look at the furniture to select a bench.

“She's definitely been associating with you for too long, Oliver,” Katie said, and elicited a snort from the man's younger brother.

Dennis wisely went to help Rose. The group of senior citizens watched and only lightly complained as the five younger people prepared to put the plan into action. Rose and Katie tested the heft of two different benches and settled on one they agreed seemed easier to lift. Ronin removed the cross brace from the door and stood ready at the handle. Zed, seeming to sense his presence, began to moan and pound on it. The squibs contingent became fretful and quarrelsome. Dennis and Oliver stationed themselves on either side of the bench. They would also push the undead back in order to move out into the bailey. It did not take long before they stood ready.

“Ro, this is just a test, so on the count of three, right? Like one, two, three, and go?” Dennis carefully instructed.

“Got it,” Ronin remarked and seemed a bit put off.

“Falkirk!” Dennis burped out the name.

“Oh, yeah, right,” Ronin replied with a hint of contrition.

“Maybe Ro should do the countdown since he's opening the door,” Oliver suggested.

It took Dennis less than a second to see the wisdom, and rejoined: “Alright, Ronin, it's up to you.”

Ronin looked surprised for a moment, but then twisted the lock open with his free hand. In the other he carried his mace. After taking hold of the door handle, he looked at this friends and said in a clear voice: “Ready? One. Two. Three... go!”

The door got pulled open. Oliver danced to the side as Rose and Katie aligned themselves. Dennis stayed glued to his position. Outside several zed tried to crowd into the doorway. The two women started to push forward with the bench as dead arms reached out toward them. The stepped backward and began to topple over. Dennis, with a small chuckle as he worked up his nerves, stepped in the space and brought down his sword. One zed stopped moving. With that, the battle truly began.

It seemed Rose contemplated what to do after the initial charge and they entered the bailey. She and Katie flipped the bench around, each grabbed one of the trestle legs, and they held it out as the form of barricade. This kept the zed from being able to grab them and provided cover for the three men who went to work clubbing and hacking the undead. Dennis approved of the way Katie conducted herself. As she did when the first met, the woman showed no fear in the face of the monsters. It appeared Rose gathered strength from the presence of her longtime friend. They became formidable as they bested the movements of the zed at every turn. It made the job easier for Dennis, Oliver, and Ronin. However, none seemed to lose sight of caution.

It took less than ten minutes to clear the inner bailey. They followed the path used to get in, but now pushed to get out. Zed ambled toward them, gnashing teeth and groaning in their mindless want. They passed through the wall opening into the field just beyond.

“We stand here and wait for them to come to us,” Dennis shouted in his maniacal war glee. “We don't want to have to clear that area again.”

The others hollered their understanding while he bounced from foot to foot and waited for the advancing zed to arrive. Dennis found it difficult to keep from running out to engage the zombies, but this time he managed it. The undead came both singularly, in small groups of three or four, and everything in between. The ponderously slow approach made the creatures appear deceptively easy to eliminate; however, the number of close calls the friends experienced taught them otherwise. They remained focused and intent. Unlike when they first arrived and sought to save the witch from being swarmed, this round did not call for non-stop fighting. The fighters paced themselves.

“They're too far away to wait any more,” Ronin said as he scanned the field ahead and on other side.

“What say we go oot and kick their arses a bit?” Oliver said, his voice angry and gruff.

“Can you two hold back any stragglers that might show up?” Dennis asked the women.

“What is it Ollie says?” Rose asked in horrendously sarcastic manner. “Oh, right: go fack yerself, Denny, and by fack I mean totally fuck yourself, you great big pouf!”

Oliver guffawed once at the retort. Katie started to uproariously laugh, and Ronin did as well. Dennis rolled his eyes, but smiled despite her highly derogatory name-calling.

“I hear you what you're saying, Rose,” he offered a subtle apology.

“Good, now go stick mace up your ass and kill the zed.”

She did not sound to appeased, so Dennis went off to complete half of the instructiongs. He intersected Ronin, and then two angled toward Oliver who continued to cackle at Rose's statement. The three headed toward an area where a larger number of undead gathered.

“You know, I think Rose is doing okay now,” Ronin gamely stated.

“Ro, I don't say this often, but I think now is a perfect time,” Dennis rejoined as he took stock of the zed that now focused on them.

“What's that, Denny?”

“Just shut it, hear?”

Ronin began laughing as his brother went into a new round. Dennis giggled as well, but not for the same reason. Three zed shambled in their direction, and Dennis' muscles started to tense as he prepared to use his sword. He tightened his grip on the handle after sliding his right hand downward until it rested on the pommel of the modified arming sword. He could not imagine who in the sixteenth century would need such a long handle on that type of blade, but it suited his needs. It felt perfect in his hands. It possessed greater weight than a backsword and lacked the bothersome basket hilt. Dennis found he could swing it around, using the natural inertia, for a remarkably long period of time. Memories of ghosts and portraits instructing him on how to rate weapons rolled through his head. He then imagined the blade thirsted for the dry neck of a zed.

“Okay, boys, let's show ‘em what we can do,” Dennis said, and ignored the laughter.

As one the trio broke into a trot. Oliver and Ronin held their maces aloft. Oliver began to shout in true Scotsman fashion. Dennis started to snicker. The bore down the zed. Sword flashed and maces smashed. The undead fell because either their heads went missing or their skulls collapsed. The three moved like a dervish up and down the slopes of castle mound.


	5. Chapter 5

Two hours later the tank of a bus filled with agitated zed got emptied into the lorry Katie Bell commandeered to carry the elderly pack of squib. Katie wanted to set the bus, and the other one with undead in it, on fire. Dennis warned that would only set loose a mob of flaming zombies who would probably set the local forest on fire. He tried burning the zed in the past and found it a downright failure in fighting them. Unless they got burned straight to the skeleton, it did not stop them. She grudgingly gave into his argument.

The front cab of lorry could only seat three. Oliver and Rose took the spots, leaving Dennis and Ronin to ride in the back with the aged passengers. Dennis did not mind one bit, although Ronin seemed put out at having to deal with the surly occupants. It seemed unusual given the vocation of the man prior to the zed invasion. When pressed for an answer, Ronin said the elderly with whom he dealt never complained half a much as any one of the squibs in the swaying cargo area. Dennis decided not to belabor the point.

Following an hour of travel the lorry came to a halt. Minutes later the back gates got thrown open. Katie, Oliver, and Rose stood facing them. Katie appeared concerned.

“Stay put,” she said to the elderly group who watched her with a mix of fear and respect. “Going to ask around and see where our people are hiding. Shouldn't take me more than an hour.”

“I have to wee,” a man told her. “And where's my pills?”

As happened at Braemar, a figurative floodgate opened. The old people started making demands regarding their comfort and safety. Katie looked as though she might explode.

“Excuse me,” Dennis said in a loud but polite manner. “I know you're uncertain and afraid. I don't blame you, but look around. All we have right now is each other. We need to work together if we want to get through this.

“Easy for you to say, young man, you don't have a bad hip!” One of the other older gentlemen said.

Before he knew it, Dennis became the focus of their collective ire. They yelled at him for more food, more water, more blankets, more pillows, more rest stops, cleaner restrooms, pills for their aches and pains, many wanted to know how their relatives fared, and it went on and on. Katie let out a laugh and went off to complete her self-appointed ask. Ronin all but hid behind Dennis as Dennis tried to assuage the passengers. They wanted none of what he said and all they demanded. Eventually Dennis stopped trying to listen and talk with them. They became a drone in his ears that seemed endless.

Oliver and Rose disappeared the moment Katie left.

Forty-five agonizing minutes later, the lorry rolled out of Tomintoul southward on a back road that followed the River Avon. Katie never explained the destination or route, but she seemed certain. Long after Dennis stopped answering their gripes, the elderly people dropped into silence. Ronin gazed at Dennis with eyes expressing commiseration, but he did not speak and for good reason. Dennis also kept his mouth tightly closed. He feared the cantankerous passengers would renew their tirade.

They traveled south, slowly because of the narrow and unpaved lane, for fifteen minutes. Then the vehicle turned to the left, heading eastward. The lorry swayed as it rolled along. Under other circumstance, Dennis might find it pleasurable. The elderly glared at him as if he bore sole responsibility for the motions of the vehicle. He ignored them. Ronin faked being asleep. For twenty-five more minutes the lorry crept along whatever path Katie found. Dennis just wished the trip would end. It did.

“Alright,” she grumbled at the people in the rear when the lorry came to a jostling stop and she pulled open the doors. “You're here!”

“Where's here?” A rotund woman screeched at her.

“Delator by the river.”

“Where's that?” A trembling voice snarled from the middle of the pack.

“Here, and it's where you're going to stay because it's free from zombies and the people will probably look after you,” Katie told them in a rather gleeful and nasty way. “You'll absolutely love it.”

Dennis needed to see for himself. He climbed out of the cargo area, Ronin fast on his heels, and stood in a broad glade with small stream at one end. It did not take much to deduce the flatness of the glen came about through less than natural means. He saw houses, made of rough hewn timber and covered in pine thatch, scattered about. Not a trace of cement could seen anywhere. He noticed around thirty people dressed in an old-fashioned mountain style stood off to one side watching the proceedings. Katie acted as master of ceremonies. She rounded up the elderly, the blankets and pillows, and marched them over to the people of the village.

“Okay, where's Tavish?” Katie growled at the throng under her command.

A very old man separated himself from the rest of the squib passengers and stepped forward.

“You're a Taran, correct”

The grizzled old head nodded. Katie then faced the village. They eyed with open suspicion.

“Was Irb Taran born and raised here?” She asked.

“E left ages ago when me gran breathed,” a man, dressed in a tam boasting a completely unfamiliar tartan pattern, told her.

“Tavish is Irb's son, and he and his friends need shelter. Do you know what's happening down off this mountain?”

“Heard them strange rumors,” a middle-aged woman replied.

“Not rumors. It's real. You're probably one of the last safe steads of magic folk around. The undead most likely will never make it up here, but these people need a place to live. Tavish has ties here, so I am calling on the right of clan blood to see him and his mates get looked after.”

The villagers gathered in a huddle and started talking in a strange tongue. Dennis strained his ears to hear. He made out a word or two, and he goggled at the people of Delator. Someone elbowed him. A glance showed it to be Ronin who wore the question on his face.

“That's pictish,” he whispered to his friend. “It's old pict, too, if I guess right. Only ever heard one ghost and two portraits use the tongue.”

“Know what they're saying?” Ronin whispered back.

“Not a damn word of it.”

The village communed for several minutes. When they concluded, one woman stepped forward. She walked up to Tavish. After extending her hand, she looked him dead in the eye.

“Take it. Prove to me your blood,” she ordered Tavish in a brogue quite unlike Oliver Wood's.

The elderly man hand held out a wrinkled hand. The woman seized it and began to mutter in her native tongue. Dennis felt his eyes grow wide in wonder. Seldom did he hear home-brewed spells spoke in such an old dialect. The last time occurred shortly before he left Hogwarts as a graduate. One of the portraits gave him a blessing to see him safely into his adulthood. While not in pictish, the German variant proved so old that no one living spoke it. An intense, odd feeling crept through him. After nearly a minute of casting, the woman stared at Tavish.

“Me hand keeps his. This man is of the blood,” she pronounced. “We'll take him an' his like.”

Katie sagged with relief. She then went to work explaining to the people of Delator what she knew of those she turned over to their care. The ones to whom she talked said little in response, but appeared to take in what she said. As the last of her former charges wandered off with the new caretakers, Katie thanked the people profusely and returned to the lorry. The five of them stood at the back and congratulated Katie on a job well done.

“They were a complete pain in the arse,” she grumbled, “but they didn't deserve to be left to die like that. Someday I'm going back and finding out who did that.”

No one doubted her word or the implied threat.

“Now, I found out in Tomintoul that The Trossachs is about a four hour drive south,” she started to tell them.

“Even under these conditions?” Oliver challenged.

“Let's say five to be safe,” Katie amended. “There's more than enough petrol in the lorry to get us there, but I'd rather wait ‘til morning. Navigating these hills won't be much fun in the dark.”

Four heads bobbed in agreement. Katie adjusted her long leather jacket. Dennis heard items rattle within. Aside from what she might be carrying, he thought it strange she knew how to drive a muggle vehicle. The process seemed to be relatively easy, yet it interested him she took the time to learn. In the meanwhile, he agreed driving in the dark would not be wise.

“Good, ‘cause I already lined up two rooms for us at that little inn in Tomintoul. We can get something to eat and sleep in a bed. Been a while since I had that experience.”

“Ugh, same with me,” Rose said with a mix of excitement and longing.

Normally Dennis would cry foul when Katie, Oliver, and Rose started to walk toward the lorry cab. It seemed only fair he and Ronin should get the chance to ride up front. However, he did not mind in the least riding alone with the man in the cargo area. Thus, without a word, he climbed into the box-like area and extended a hand to Ronin. Ronin watched the other three hop into the cab before accepting the outstretched limb. Dennis saw a reflection of what he initially felt ripple over Ronin's features.

“Didn't even ask, right?” He said as pulled upward.

“Oliver gets like that sometimes, and I think Rose just wants someplace comfortable to sit... and I wouldn't mind it myself,” Ronin rejoined.

The quickly shut the doors, enveloping them in darkness, until Ronin found the light switch. With just two magic users in the back, the small bulb flickered in response. They watched it for a second until the vehicle lurched when Katie put it into gear. The two sat down.

‘So, Ro, ah, what are you going to do when we find Oliver's family?” Dennis asked because he still sincerely believed they would eventually locate Mysie and the children.

“Hmm, hadn't thought about it to be honest. What you got planned?” His friend replied.

“I think I'll set out with Katie if she'll allow it. I'm rather curious to find out what happened to Dean Thomas. Either that or I can finish what brought me to Edinburgh in the first place.”

Ronin questioned him with a silent stare.

“There's a field somewhere around Broxburn where the remains of one of the Hogwarts ghosts are buried,” he explained. “Oh, she got killed at Hogwarts, but they took her body there to hide it. Before you ask: I don't know all the gory details.”

“Which ghost is it?”

“Ever run into the one who hovers outside of the Great Hall on the foundation fringe?”

“Mate, you might be the only one who did that,” Ronin said through a wry grin.

“Fair enough. Her name is Joan Margery Ysabel Dowson, originally from Leicester back in the fifteenth century. She started as a student but stayed on a scullery maid when she learned she'd nothing to go back to,” Dennis said, searching his memories for details he first heard over a decade and a half ago. “The man her father betrothed her to didn't want anything to do with a witch, so she stayed ‘cause she had no marriage prospects. Then, she died, but someone killed her. I don't know how or why, but she's keen to have a ring back she was wearing that she got from her mother. I'm hoping I can find it bring it to her.”

“Why, Denny? Yeah, I know the ghosts were your friends, but... it just seems like a lot to go through for only one person who, let's be truthful, can't even wear a ring.”

The vehicle rumbled down the road as Dennis considered what Ronin said. He put aside any possible sub-text to the statements, and took them at face value. Several answers came to mind and got prioritized.

“It's an honest question, Ro, and here's the honest answer: is there a time limit on compassion or justice or mercy?” Dennis asked, but did not wait for an answer. “It's been almost six hundred years she's been fretting about that ring. There's more to it than I can even guess at, but... how can I look at her and say I don't care? I can't look at that type of loneliness and do nothing about it.”

Ronin's cheeks turned red and he looked away.

“Would you want me to act that way toward Oliver?”

Ronin's head snapped back and a fiery glint rose in his eyes. The light bulb flared for a moment. Dennis did not take his eyes off his friend.

“No, I wouldn't, and do you have to make everything so damn personal?” Ronin said, but not with anger.

“Everything is personal to someone, Ronin.” Dennis retorted.

They rode along without speaking for a few minutes.

“Why didn't you ask what she did for me?”

The younger Wood brother gazed at him.

“She came to me one time I was feeling really down and sitting out there on that ledge so I wouldn't get teased,” Dennis began and the memory swept over him. “She just floated next to me, stood there in her own way, and watched the squid play in the lake. For the longest time we didn't move, didn't speak, just looked out over the water. After a while she said to me, she said: ‘No one should be this alone.' All she did was keep me company, Ro. That's it. It was all she could do, and she did it without being asked. For someone like me at that time, do you have any idea how much it meant to me?”

“I'm sorry, Denny,” Ronin whispered. “I wasn't thinking.”

“She didn't ask me to go find it. I only know about it ‘cause we swapped stories once, like we're doing now. Joan talked about that ring as if it's the most precious object in the world. It means a lot to her, and I mean to find it for her,” he said and let his resolve show in his words. “Think of it this way, Ro: without her and the other ghost, and the paintings, I might not be here.”

The face of the man sitting across from him sagged as the intent behind the words became clear. Dennis simply nodded to show at one point he felt that way. Then he smiled because the memory of what one dead woman did gave him hope. Always the small acts, he said in his mind, that make all the difference.

“Just so you know: I'm not doing it because I feel I owe it to her, and I do, I'm doing it because I can and it's the right thing to do. It's what she taught me that afternoon... almost without words.”

Ronin nodded. Dennis began to think he pushed the point too far. He did at times because of what his experiences from childhood to the present taught him. The small moments did matter. They gave context to the larger ones. He sat and listened to the sound of the lorry as it turned and twisted along the mountain road. He began to debate in his mind what he would do after Oliver and his family reunited. Both parties could use his assistance, regardless if living or deceased for six centuries, but he needed to determine which posed the immediate need. His thinking carried him all the way to Tomintoul.

The evening proved pleasant. He enjoyed dinner with his friends, and dined on the first hot meal in weeks. The people running the inn seemed delighted to have guests, and the fact Katie paid in real gold also appeared to influence their behavior. Dennis, when not engaged in talk, continued to ponder the course he would follow in the coming days. It stayed with him when he retired to his room along with the Woods. Both Oliver and Ronin offered to share a bed, but Dennis chose to sleep on the floor. Years of tramping through open land, holing up in caves, and the finding whatever shelter he could when the zed attacks began acclimated him to sleeping on hard surfaces. The pillow and blanket he used already seemed a luxury. While the brothers fretted, Dennis fell into a sound slumber.

In the morning, Katie surprised them all following breakfast. She led them to the parking lot, but not the lorry. She stood next to a battered red Volvo S70 sedan, then she jangled the keys. The four gaped at her.

“Traded it for the lorry,” she told them. “They say it runs well, and it's an automatic.”

“Are ye sure aboot this, Katie?” Oliver asked in a tentative timber.

“They even filled the tank when the saw the lorry was topped off,” the woman continued to try and impress them. When they did not appear impressed, she frowned and said: “Or would you rather ride in the back of a delivery wagon?”

“Oh, this looks just peachy,” Dennis instantly replied in an overly optimistic fashion. He then walked around the vehicle, whistling once or twice, and said: “She is a beaut.”

“Be quiet,” Katie tossed at him, yet he heard the birth of snicker in her tone. “Get in the damn car.”

First they loaded their packs and weapons into the trunk. Oliver sat in the front seat, although the three in the back never agreed to the arrangement. Rose sat squashed between Dennis and Ronin. In reality the back seat provided adequate room for all three. Once in, Katie fired up the engine. It turned over in a flash and sounded normal. Of course, no real witch or wizard could say for certain how an engine should sound. Dennis figured as long as it did not sputter or explode, then it operated within standard parameters. He watched Katie play with a lever on column whereon the steering wheel sat. The sound of the motor changed, the driver flexed a leg, and the Volvo edged into the empty street.

While Katie and Oliver chatted in the front, Rose leaned her head on Dennis shoulder and fell asleep within the first ten minutes. Ronin appeared mentally occupied while he stared out the door window at the passing scenery. Dennis let his head rest against Rose's. The car motor hummed. The banter between the two in the front formed its own tempo. The sound of the tires added another layer. Dennis let it flow into his ears, and it became a singularly unique experience. It also lulled him into sleep, and the world disappeared as if by magic.

“For Benard's sake, Denny, you drooled in my hair!” Rose's shriek woke him.

Dennis sat up in a start. The three other chuckled. His swiveled his head around. The green of the mountains no longer surrounded them. The rolling expanse of the lowlands lay in every direction from where the Volvo got parked on the side of the road. He saw a sign a short ways ahead announcing Stanley in five kilometers. Dennis scratched his head and yawned. The others spilled out the vehicle, Rose complaining about the amount of drool he produced. When he got out, she cast a nasty look on him.

“The car's bewitched, Rose,” he claimed. “Knocked me right out. Can't hold me responsible.”

The Wood brothers quickly faced in another direction, but not before Dennis saw the smirks.

“Katie, how long was I out?” He yelled his question at the driver for fear of Rose's response.

Katie, who squatted and stretched her legs while watching Oliver and Ronin trot toward a group of trees replied: “Little over an hour.”

“Feels like I slept a whole night.”

“You sure as hell drooled enough for one night,” Rose barked at him while dabbing her head with a paper napkin she found in the automobile.

Being out in the open without his sword and sans his jacket suddenly made Dennis nervous. He spun in a circle to survey the area. He caught Katie watching him.

“Zed?” Dennis asked.

“About ten kilometers back we saw a pack of ‘em,” she informed him. “If they're around, then they're in the distance somewhere.”

Dennis nodded, noted she doffed her jacket and now wore only a long-sleeved black shirt with her jeans and boots.

“Are we going to stop in Stanley?”

“Only if we need to. The closer we get to Perth, the more zed we're going to see. I'd like to drive straight through,” Katie said, offering him her plan. “The yin-yang brothers had to pee, so that's why we took a break.”

Dennis chuckled at her name for Oliver and Ronin. Katie walked around the vehicle and leaned against it next to Rose. She wore a concerned expression.

“Denny, what are you going to do if his wife and children aren't in that camp?” She inquired, and he wondered what prompted.

“Well, try to collect more information, maybe backtrack to Edinburgh, and keep our eyes sharp,” Dennis explained what he considered the only logical course.

“And if you can't find them at all, then what?”

“Try to keep him from obliviating himself. I'll help look after him with Ro... and Rose if she wants.”

Rose solemnly bobbed her head in agreement.

“And then?” Katie pressed.

He wondered at her insistence, but said: “I have some tasks I need to complete. They can help if they want. Why? Do you need assistance with something?”

Katie shrugged.

“Dean?”

“Maybe,” she said and tried to sound noncommittal. “You seem pretty handy with this search and find routine, and I was thinking...”

“I'll help,” Dennis said before she asked.

It struck him as fortuitous she would bring up the subject the morning after he spent an evening thinking about it. His mind whirred, pieces clicked, and he came up with the source. He grinned.

“Talked to Ronin while I was sleeping, huh?”

Pink spots appeared on Katie's face.

“It's okay. You can ask me just about anything.”

“When was the last time you got laid?” Rose blurted, and Katie let out with a loud, single bark of laughter.

“Um, about three weeks before I ran into Oliver and Ronin. Angus Crawford in Blackridge, a big, burly, red-headed fellow... total Scotsman. Think he does caber tossing at festivals, and, boy, does he know how to toss...”

“Okay, alright, enough, stop,” Rose said. “Sorry I asked.”

Katie leaned into Rose, hiccuping with laughter, and holding her sides. Oliver and Ronin trotted up the car. Their looks of concern changed to one of interested confusion. The brothers' eyes flicked back and forth in unison.

“Did we miss something?” Ronin inquired.

“Sure... did,” Katie coughed the words between laughs.

“Like what?” Oliver followed up.

“Like the tales of Angus and the Scottish games that only two...”

“Seriously, just leave off,” Rose half-begged. “I only wanted to see if you really would answer any question, and I'm sorry I asked.”

“What'd she ask you?” Ronin quipped.

“When he last... had sex. Oh, should've seen... her face, guys,” Katie said, burbling with mirth.

Rose, her cheeks the color of her name, huffed when she said: “Just get in the facking car ‘fore the zed show up from all this foolishness!”

They did as ordered, Katie never stopped snickering. This time Ronin sat in the middle and Rose as far away from Dennis as she manage. Once more, Katie took the driver's seat and Oliver just assumed the shotgun position. The car rumbled to life, got dropped into gear, and they continued on their journey. Ronin turned his head, his eyebrows drawing together, and stared at Dennis for a moment.

“So, who's Angus?” He asked.

“Know where Blackridge is?” Dennis counter-questioned.

“Fucking kill me now,” Rose begged, and Katie burst into another round.

Verbal chaos ensued as the car sped toward Stanley. Ronin, and then Oliver, kept trying to ask leading questions. It became a contest to see who could make Rose go mad first. Dennis hardly ever got to speak. He likened scene to a form of Scottish tennis. The brothers got Rose wound up nearly beyond reason. Katie whooped with merriment while steering. She amazed Dennis with her skills as the car never wavered out of the lane regardless of how hard she laughed.

The drive to Stanley did not take long. As they moved toward the town, the number of zed wandering near the road increased. The levity in the vehicle instantly died down. When they passed through Stanley since the road took them that way, it became clear the undead occupied it. Dennis began to plan in his head when they reached the other side of the town and saw how close Perth lay. Given what Katie told them, staying clear of area seemed the wisest course of action. His hands began to involuntarily flex and he felt a fit of giggles taking shape in his chest. He needed activity.

“Katie, stop if you see a safe petrol station; we need a map,” Dennis requested.

“Right,” Katie quietly responded, but kept her eyes glued on the road.

Their speed slowed as abandoned and scorched vehicles littered the road. Mostly decayed bodies lay scattered in various spots. Tension palpably rose in the enclosed vehicle. Dennis began to feel a bit naked without his weapons and wished he retrieved when they stopped not long before. His head moved left and right in a mechanical fashion as he continually surveyed the area. Zed began to notice them. It never got easier, Dennis thought when he heard Rose quickly inhale, to see children as undead. They passed a school, and in the yard almost a dozen small zombies wandered around. After that they began traveling next to the River Tay, and zed thrashed in the water. Katie tried to speed up whenever possible.

“Just hit them,” Oliver declared when the group began the approach to Luncarty and more of the horrible creatures began to appear.

Rose whispered in a tiny voice, making her words unintelligible. Dennis twisted his head to left and looked at Ronin. Ronin returned the gaze and almost imperceptibly shook his head. Dennis interpreted it to mean the man did not like the situation, and he could not agree more. The road fortunately lay on the outer edge of Luncarty. Deeper in the heart of the locale they could see zed ambling through the streets. They did not see any living people. Dennis began to realize how often he traveled through open country and, by sheer luck, avoided mass numbers of the undead. He began to wonder if perhaps they should use that strategy.

“There, there, Katie, turn there!” Oliver said in an excited but dire way. “That'll takes us away from Perth.”

Dennis felt relieved the eldest Wood brother thought the same way until Ronin said: “Are you daft, Oliver? We'll have to go through Almondbank!”

Oliver spun around, faced his brother, and hotly rejoined: “Oh, so'd ye rather go along that road ‘tween factories and neighborhoods?”

“We stay on this road,” Katie informed them and did not sound in the mood to debate it. “I came out of Perth only three days ago, and there's no way in the seven hells I'm going back!”

“But we have to go through the heart of a town, and the roads are all twisty,” Ronin countered.

Dennis saw Katie shoot Oliver a stern look. He scowled.

“As soon as we're in a clear area, pull over, Katie. I want my sword,” Dennis did more than request.

“Right,” Katie answered.

He did not have long to wait when the southwesterly road became surrounded by open farm land. Zed wandered in the distance, but not close enough to cause them grief if they stopped. Ahead they saw a good-sized farming stead, and Katie simply stopped.

“We should hurry,” she said while shutting down the motor and pulling the keys from the ignition.

The five spilled out of the Volvo and gathered at the rear of the car. Katie fumbled with the keys until she got it inserted into the boot lock. Once open, Dennis grabbed his jacket, shrugged into it and then immediately lunged for his sword. Rose did the same while Oliver and Ronin went after their maces. Dennis calmed when the cool leather wrapping of the hilt rested in his palm. He went back into the boot and retrieved the main gauche he picked up at the museum. He held it up while facing Katie.

“Remember: up through the chin, in through the eye, or into the back of the neck where the spine meets the skull. If worse comes to worst, try to punch through the temple. Unless you get a good swing first, you'll never get this through the top of a skull and it'll just get stuck,” he said, pointing to the various spots on his own head with the gauche, and the offered the blade to Katie. “I won't have you going into any of this without a decent weapon.”

Katie took the proffered handle, and she gazed at Dennis for a moment before quietly saying: “Thank you, Denny.”

“Decent of you, mate,” Ronin quietly commented. Oliver and Rose nodded.

“An unarmed person is a liability,” he reminded them. The he turned to Katie and said: “It means close quarters fighting for you, but it'll give you chance. Always keep your arms above theirs if they come at you. Your jacket should help with some of the biting, so wear it, but watch out for them grabbing a sleeve. If you can't get a good strike in, kick them away... knock them down if you can. The rotters don't have good balance and getting back on their feet takes them a few.”

Katie, who just the day before treated him like a detested interloper, appeared to accept his instructions without question.

“And for fuck's sake, don't use a tennis racket,” Dennis told her as his sense of he ridiculous surfaced for a moment.

“Get bent, you fucking blighter,” Rose angrily rounded on him, her gray-blue eyes glinting with ire. “It was Will's and it reminded me of him!”

Oliver and Ronin did little to hide their smirks. Katie listened and gradually began to smile. Dennis, proud he managed to bait Rose in an unlikely moment, just let his pride show.

“You're a bunch of wankers, the lot of you,” Rose quailed at them, and then stomped off toward the car.

“Bloody brilliant timing,” Oliver complimented him.

“That was mean,” Katie said without any real reproof in her tone.

“But so, so right,” Dennis happily quipped, and it elicited a laugh from Ronin.

With that the four followed their friend back to the vehicle cabin after Katie closed the boot. Rose sat in the front passenger seat. Oliver looked to get ready to complain, but Ronin restrained his brother by simply grabbing his arm. The three men then piled into the back seat. Ronin sat in the middle, and Dennis liked the arrangement. The car set off down the road again without anyone saying a word.

They passed through more farmland and some small patches of woods until they arrived at the edge of a town. Dennis assumed it to be the place called Almondbark. Ronin spoke the truth. The way before them narrowed as they entered the town proper. Katie navigated around dead automobiles, some with the dehydrated bodies of the former owner trapped by a safety belt hanging out of open doors. The sound of latches being opened echoed in the cabin. Zed shambled around, and a few started following the vehicle. Like all of places they saw of late, no living made a showing.

“Now which way?” Katie said after she went around a tight corner and faced a tee.

“Pick a way a go,” Rose said in a strained manner. “We don't have time to sit here.”

“That sign says Main Street, so I'd follow that one,” Ronin suggested.

Katie did not argue. Zed began to zero in on them. She tapped the accelerator with a foot, and the car shot forward. The road bent into a u-shape, but then it started taking them south. Before them lay what looked to be the heart of the town. Sidewalks devoid of the living bordered each side of the road while buildings flanked it. Katie drove as fast as possible. They passed windows with dark stains, some broken, and others shielded undead. Almondbank looked ravaged. Their luck held as few cars sat in the street. Katie hit nothing, excluding a single zed that popped out from behind a derelict automobile. The made it through the town, and reached another tee intersection. Katie paused.

“Don't stop,” Oliver nervously said. “They're coming up behind us.”

“Which way?” Katie snarled.

“West! West! We need to go west,” Dennis said as he thought of their destination.

Katie did not wait, accelerated, and turned right. Dennis saw the reason for Oliver's panic and Katie's immediate action: Zed came crawling out of hedgerow on either side of the road. The Volvo sped along, putting a considerable amount of distance between the living and the dead.

“No, no. This wrong,” Ronin blurted in the dense silence of the automobile. With the exception of Katie, all heads looked his way. “We need to be the A9, and now we're on A85. We're going to be too far north.”

It came as a pleasant shock to Dennis Ronin knew something about the area.

“Look, the road is open, there's nae a one zed around us, and I say we're fine ‘til we needs to go south,” his brother countered.

“Sign up there says Crieff in fifteen kilometers,” Katie knowingly said since she alone kept her eyes on the road. “There's got to be a connector in Crief to the A9, so we'll pick it up then. Won't take us long to get there.”

Ronin appeared to fret, but said nothing. Dennis could not find fault with the plan. At the current speed Katie traveled on a road mostly open, they would reach the town in little over ten minutes by his calculations. He sat back and nudged Ronin with his shoulder. Ronin glanced at him, and Dennis nodded to indicate they would be fine. His friend shrugged, but did not look entirely convinced. Farmland passed on either side, a zed here or there dotted the landscape, but nothing out of ordinary. Dennis wanted to say something, but the man next to him did not give any sign of wanting to talk.

Before ten minutes expired the A85 bent to a southwesterly direction, and Dennis thought that improved their journey. The road ahead looked mainly serene with trees lining one side and open farmland on the other. Katie did not let up on the speed. Soon Dennis saw a copse of trees and what looked to be the beginning of a neighborhood. A red flag started to wave in his head, and he began to seriously study their surroundings. The road, he noted, would pass through the town. Given what he knew about Perth and what they witnessed in Almondbank, the strategic part of his mind began to churn.

“We should stop and get a feel for this place,” he recommended.

“I doon't see any dead, Denny, so maybe we should just keep going,” Oliver countered.

“Hmm,” Dennis hummed his warning.

“I've got my eyes on the road, Dennis, so I'll keep you posted on what I see,” Katie remarked.

“Me, too,” Rose chimed in.

Ronin bumped Dennis with a shoulder. When Dennis looked at him, Ronin gave a tiny shake of his head. Dennis hoped his eyes spoke for him. In the past four months he trained his friends to avoid population centers since one never knew where the zed might congregate or lurk. Oliver did not heed the lesson of Falkirk. Thus, the car moved on into the northeastern edge of Crieff. Signs on the road pointed the way to the various interchanges, including for the A9. The road bent slightly in a more westerly direction. Everyone in the vehicle lurched forward when Katie slammed on the brakes.

“Bugger me cross-eyed!” Katie yelled, and everyone could see why.

From the distance one might believe Crieff threw a street party. Further inspection revealed the zed merely jammed the street. Dennis looked around and discovered the reason: rows of building sprang up in all directions, both for businesses and flats. They lined the street. Several burned atructures could be seen on the north side of the street. Again, and Dennis swore to himself, people probably believed fire would be a good weapon.

“Shite, back it up, Katie!” Oliver demanded.

She tried, but a stream of zed came out of side street drawn by the sound of the car and, most likely, the occupants it carried. The ones ahead started to turn toward them.

“Katie, just give the car all it's got and try to plow through what's in front of us,” Ronin told her.

“Are ye mad, Ro?” We'll never make it!” Oliver rebuked him.

“She won't be able to control the car if she drives backward,” he angrily stated.

“Ronin's right,” Dennis shouted. “Go forward.”

While Dennis and Oliver swapped frustrated glances, Katie accepted one of the orders. They all heard her stomp her foot down to the accelerator. The tires of the Volvo actually squawked in response, the car shot forward. The sedan worked in their favor. The zed did not move out of the way. The bounced off the front bumper and the quarter panels, flying to the side or getting crushed under the speeding car. The vehicle bounced and jumped as it hit other debris on the road. Katie performed marvelously, in Dennis' opinion, as she dodged stranded vehicles and plowed through the undead. Dennis started to giggle as his right hand tightened on the grip of his sword.

“What the hell are you laughing at?” Katie blared.

“Ignore him. He does that when things get tight,” Rose informed her. “Means he's getting ready for a fight.”

“We're not stopping to fight!” The driver yelled while using the car as a battering ram against the dead in the street.

Bodies flew past them. Some rolled up on the bonnet of the vehicle, a few landed on the windshield and cracked it, before falling to one side or the other. Katie effectively cleared the path before them.

“Oy, sign said A822 going south coming up,” Ronin called out. “Probably need to bear left.”

Dennis, his body preparing to engage in battle, continued to snicker despite his want to make it stop. He kept seeing flashes of Katie's eyes in the rear-view mirror, and she looked upset with him. He shrugged each time she did. Despite the fleeting glances, Katie maintained firm control over the automobile. She continued to run down zed in willy-nilly fashion while avoiding the odd car or two left sitting on the road. Dennis now watched the side of the road for signs.

“We just passed the turn for A85 north,” Ronin announced.

“What the fuck does that mean?” Katie snapped at him.

“We should get ready... shite, turn! Turn left!” Ronin yelled.

Katie yanked hard on the wheel while quickly stepping on the brakes. Tires squealed as the car canted to one side and started to slide. People in the vehicle yelled as the Volvo began to rotate. Around them zed got scattered in every direction. When the car halted due to hitting old half-barrels cut down and used as flower beds, they faced in the wrong direction. Dennis could see the sign for the A822 pointing in the opposite direction in the passenger side window. Unfortunately, the zed started to take an interest in the automobile.

“Get us out of here, Katie,” Oliver begged.

The engined growled and the car began to move forward, but a terrible grinding noise also became noticeable.

“We might be hung up,” Katie moaned while jerking on the steering wheel and revving the motor. The could hear a tire spinning.

“Damn it,” Dennis said through a chuckle. “Ollie, Ro, get ready to jump out on the count of three. Ro and me will fight them back and you push the car Ollie!”

“Why me?” The older Wood hollered.

“Just facking do it, you tit!” His younger brother spat.

“One, two, three...” Dennis shouted the count down.

When he pushed the door open, it knocked down several of the undead. Dennis bounded out of the car, sword swinging in an upper cut, and pushed another body back. He did not have time to watch the Woods and hoped they did what he expected. Zed, ponderously slow but in greater number, demanded his attention. His blade slashed back and forth. He severed a few necks, and the zombies dropped. Hands with gray, mottle skin reached for him, but he chopped at those on the reverse swing. Gradually he carved a path for himself. It became abundantly clear the vehicle landed in a mass of undead. Dennis finally got to see the Wood brothers pulverizing zed heads with their maces. He began the fight toward them.

The main issue with fighting the undead, Dennis reminded himself as he started to laugh, centered on denying them the chance to get a good handhold, so constant movement tended to be key. He kept moving, kept swinging his sword, and breaking grasping hands. Right as Dennis got near the rear of the automobile, he head a scream. Inside the car, he saw after a quick glance, Rose parried with her sword. He could not help them and continued the battle to reached Oliver and Ronin. The brothers worked as a team and kept the advancing zombies at bay. The stood back-to-back with each guarding one flank. When a zed neared, a mace would crash into its skull with a sickening cracking sound. The undead usually fell down. Thus, it became easier and easier to reach the two.

“Come on, move toward the rear tire and start pushing. We need to get it over the flower planter,” Dennis told them after taking a precious three seconds to examine the situation. Then he looked into the car.

“Shit, Rose...” he started to yell.

“Get the car unstuck. I got this!” She hollered at him while jabbing with her sword.

A wave of horrendous guilt fell over Dennis as he realized he forgot to close his door. A zed got in right behind Katie. Fortunately, it appeared Rose readily met the challenge and beat back the monster by continuously poking it in the head. Dennis refocused. He stood on the other side Oliver across from Ronin.

“Ollie, grab the edge of the car above the wheel and try to lift as much as you can,” Dennis said and dispatched a zed at the same time. “We'll keep you covered.”

Ronin then came down with a mighty swing on a shorter zombie. The head audibly split open and the creature crumbled to the ground. Oliver looked confused, so Dennis pushed him toward wheel well. After shouting out some more orders, the oldest Wood brother stood in position with his back pressed against the vehicle and his hands clutched the edge of wheel well.

“Katie, give it petrol,” he yelled into the car through a giggle.

Ronin darted around knocking zed to the ground while Dennis helped position Oliver, and then Dennis returned to decapitating the undead as fast as he could. In the distance the familiar sound of amassing zombies could be heard. Dennis realized they would be overcome if the did not get out of the area, or at least retreat on foot, as soon as possible. Suddenly the car roared, the tires started spinning, and Oliver tried lifting. Dennis then threw his shoulder against it and pushed with all his might even though a zed attempted to grab him.

The Volvo slid off the planter box, Oliver fell to the ground, Denis go thrown off-balance, and Ronin alone remained standing. Rose yelled from inside the vehicle they needed to get in. Dennis helped Oliver to his feet, and then promptly hacked into the neck of zed nearly on top of them. He watched as Ronin looked at the inside, dove in feet first, and knocked the zed out. Oliver smashed a zombie in the face while backing toward the car. Dennis pushed Oliver in as an undead grabbed his arm. Miraculously the maille attached to the sleeve did not allow the zombie to get purchase. Dennis kicked outward while falling backward into the vehicle.

“GO!” He screamed while his legs batted at a zed.

Katie did as ordered. The tires squealed, and the rear end of the automobile fishtailed when the rubber got traction. Dennis struggled to close the car door.

“Wrong way! Turn around!” Ronin shouted.

The car ran over several zed as Katie wheeled it about. Once aimed it the right direction, she pressed the pedal to the floorboard. The Volvo engine whined as they zipped down the road, finally heading south. A dread silence hung in the car, only punctuated by everyone sucking in deep breaths. Zed thudded against the front bumper and bonnet. After a few minutes the crowd of zombies lay behind them, and only a few wandered on the road. Katie did not purposefully aim for them, but she did not avoid the stragglers either. As the group began to recover, Dennis sat up and glanced around. The sheen of wet red instantly caught his attention.

“Oh, fuck. Katie, no!” He half-sobbed.

“Just let me drive, and we can sort it out later,” she replied.

Rose let out with a gasp and then burst into tears. Katie flinched, but she remained focused on the road. The guilt Dennis felt for leaving the car door open in the first place went into overdrive as he considered what his error cost. Tears of shame slid down his cheeks.


	6. Chapter 6

Katie did not stop for over ten minutes. The entire time a sense of sadness and shock swept through the automobile. No one needed to say what lay in the near future. They rocketed through a small community named Muthill, barely navigating the turns, and still Katie did not stop. The road arched first east and then south. Finally, after passing a turn off for another road just after a farmhouse, the Volvo slid to a halt on the side of the road. Katie sat in the driver seat mumbling to herself and shaking.

“Oh, cripes, get out now!” Dennis ordered through a throat nearly closed with emotion.

The others did not wait and tumbled from the car cabin. Dennis ran around to the driver side where Katie remained strapped in. He looked at her, and it told him all he needed. He giggled as his nerves became tight as a drawn bowstring. Dennis opened the door, reached inside and unbuckled the safety belt, and then dragged Katie out of the seat by the collar of her jacket. Her body jerked and twitched. Her eyes rolled back into her head, revealing only the whites. Drool spilled from her mouth. In the little over twelve minutes since she got bit, the transformation took over. Strange gargling sounds issued from Katie, and Dennis knew what came next. He dragged his new friend away from the vehicle. He raised his sword.

“Gods, Denny, no!” Rose hollered at him.

Dennis brought his sword down. Blood shot out of Katie's neck as he severed most of it. His boots glistened with red while Rose yelled at him over and over. He launched into a second swing and removed Katie's head. It lay on the ground next to the body as spasms went through it, blood spilling out from the place where the head used to reside.

“How the fuck could you do that?” Rose shrieked at him and drew her sword.

Oliver knocked it out of her hand, and the seized her when she lunged. The woman sobbed and threw curse after curse at him. Dennis felt he deserved it for his clumsy handling of the situation. He accepted he cost Katie her life.

“You fucker! Why? Why?” Rose bellowed.

It took every ounce of courage Dennis possessed when he used his foot to turn over Katie's head. The skin looked sallow and waxy, and flecks of blood dappled it it. The eyes that rolled back into normal position did not appear right: the pupils fully dilated and glassy. Mostly, the mouth that worked overtime biting and snapping at the air near Dennis' foot proved the point.

“I am so sorry,” he told the zombified head of the late Katie Bell.

Dennis then dropped his sword, and then to his knees. The cries came spilling out of him. He verbally damned himself over and over for his rash actions. He beat his fists against his knees as remorse and sorrow tore through him. The chain maille on his sleeves jangled in response. Dennis berated himself for knowing better about entering a strange town. The situation called for making Katie stop at the outskirts of Crieff so they could investigate, but he failed the test of leadership. Traveling in the car made everything seem deceptively easy.

“Not your fault, mate,” a small voice said next to him while a strong arm wrapped around his shoulders. “I never should've told her to drive through them.”

“I should've... made her... “Dennis tried to say, but a sob cut him off.

“What the hell were you thinking, Ro, telling her to do that?” Rose hurled the accusation at him, and it veiled a thousand more. “Why did we break from what we usually do?”

“My fault... my fault,” Dennis heaved out the words. “Stopped her... should've...”

Rose kicked at the stones on the side of the road. Katie's head never stopped biting at the air. Without warning, Oliver walked over and brought his mace down in it. The face got destroyed. After a second blow, the skull got crushed. Bits of Katie Bell clung to the mace.

“Cannae watch ‘er doing that,” Oliver said in a distant, hollow voice.

Dennis stared at the mess. His lips trembled as he tried to find the words to beg for the dead woman's forgiveness. The arm let go of his shoulder. He felt Ronin stand up.

“It's nobody's fault,” Ronin hollered. “It happened. We did something entirely fucking stupid together!”

Dennis nodded.

“I did not...” Rose began to argue.

“That's right: you didn't say a damn thing. You wait until someone else steps up to make the call and then you say something, this way you're never at fault,” Ronin bellowed.

Dennis heard Rose growl, or at least it sounded like it to him.

“Don't you fucking look at me like I've no right to say that to you,” the younger Wood brother charged.

“You don't,” Rose hissed. “All you do is hide behind Denny and do whatever the hell he tells you to do. You ain't got no spine, Ronin!”

“Shut it!” Oliver's voice climbed above the others. “Just shut yer facking mouths. Katie is dead, gone... done in for, and nae a thing can change it!”

Dennis stopped staring at the remains of Katie's head and eyed Oliver instead. From his periphery he saw the others recoil from Oliver's words. The cold truth continued to sink into Dennis' bones.

“It went bad. We was all there, and it just facking went bad,” the man continued. “Ye act like he wanted her dead, but Denny did what ‘ad to be done. She was turning into one of them zed, and he gave her... peace. Look at him. Look! Ye don't believe he doesn't think this is his fault when he ain't done a thing wrong? It happened, so facking leave it be!”

Rose whirled on a heel and went back to the car. She sat in the front passenger seat, and slammed the door. Oliver and Ronin slowly approached Dennis. Oliver paused to pick up the sword still bearing Katie's blood. The man then wiped it on the grass growing next to the road. He handed the blade to Dennis.

“Ye did as ye needed to do,” Oliver said, but his voice sound rough and thick. “Ye were trying to make shite situation better, so ye nothing to feel bad over.”

“I didn't close the door,” Dennis said as he stared at his sword. While in his hands it never drew the blood of the living with the intent to kill.

“Neither did we, so... it was a crazy moment, mate. Don't hold yourself too responsible, Denny. You've got good instincts, and now isn't the time to go doubting them,” Ronin told him.

Then Oliver gently pushed Dennis on the shoulder to get him to start walking. However, he did not. Dennis slid his sword between his belt and his pants as he stood. Then he reached down and grabbed Katie's lifeless body just under the armpits. He lifted and started to haul. Seconds later his burden became easier. Ronin took hold of her legs and hoisted. Together they carried her body past the vehicle and out in the field. Oliver followed with Katie's head that he held by the hair. It dripped blood. The walked further out until they stood under a tree. Dennis and Ronin lowered her to the ground. Dennis arranged her arms against her side. Then Oliver placed the head where it would normally sit on the neck. The three men stood over her.

“I don't see your ghost,” Dennis said quietly but out loud, “so maybe that means you understand. I didn't want you to die, Katie, I swear. I only knew you for a day, but... I will never forget you. I hope you found peace.”

“Aye, ye were a good lass, Katie Bell. Ye were as fine a chaser as any I ever saw. I was always fond of ye. May the fates look after ye, Katie,” Oliver said in a solemn voice.

“I hope you find fair skies and good rest,” Ronin joined into the makeshift memorial.

After half a minute of looking down at her remains, Dennis turned and headed back to the vehicle. He could never forget zed still roamed the lands, and he did not feel entirely good leaving Rose alone, despite what she said in anger and sorrow. The men walked back together in quiet contemplation. Dennis fought to think of what to do next and to place his emotions in check until such time he could deal with them properly.

“We go to The Trossachs as planned,” Dennis said when everyone sat once more in the Volvo.

Oliver stationed himself behind the steering wheel. He twisted the key in the ignition, and the engine returned to life. He then asked: “We go south on the A822 to the A9 and follow that right through?”

“Yeah, I think that's right,” Ronin replied.

Dennis turned his face and looked out the window. It made sense that Oliver would know how to drive given he lived among the muggles. Either that or he learned very quickly. The now foursome sat and rode without speaking. It seemed surreal to him that not more than fifteen minutes before Katie rode with them. She remained on his mind even while trying to decide what to do. He settled on ensuring Oliver made it to the refugee camp Katie told them about. More than ever, he needed to believe the man's wife and children lived. The group moved on though a landscape dotted with the occasional undead shambling about.

In less than ten minutes they faced another small community. This time they stopped without even debating. Each took turns standing on the roof looking down into Braco. One by one they reported seeing no particular threats except for stray zed. They continued on their way, soon the A822 merged into the A9. Unlike at Perth, the route took them around the next town. Oliver followed the signs when they saw the A9 continued south. On little more than guess, they switched to the A820 and five minutes later they barreled through a hamlet called Doune. Undead wandered the streets, and Oliver just ran them over.

The scene repeated itself over and over. The group silently passed through a small village here or a larger town further along. Only when they came to Callander did they stop to investigate, but again they rammed through once under way. From the time they left the area where Katie died to when they stopped to make a serious decision, little over sixty minutes expired. The four stared at a sign that told them to bear left on A821 to go to The Trossachs.

“Left?” Oliver inquired.

“Left,” Dennis, Ronin, and Rose said in unison.

They sped down the road that at first seemed open, but soon hedges and trees began to form a natural wall on either side. They also saw houses. Since electricity no longer flowed in that region of the country, the dark houses did not seem unusual. The sight of smoke curling up from a chimney nearly seven kilometers after turning onto the road gave them pause. Oliver stopped the car. The four stared at the gray column rising into the noon-day sky.

“That's not zed,” Ronin stated when no one else spoke.

“Course it's not,” Rose rejoined in an angry and surly tone.

“Lay off, Rose,” Oliver said, and he sounded weary. “We can argue ‘boot what happened later once we find out where we're going.”

Rose folded her arms across her chest.

“We should find out where it's coming from ‘fore we decide whether it is or isn't zed,” Dennis chipped in.

“Aye,” Oliver agreed.

He did not ask and just began driving again. The vehicle crept slowly along the narrow lane paved with broken asphalt. The old divider markings looked gray instead of white. Leaves and branches lay in the road giving testament to fact vehicle traffic rarely passed by. Soon they came to two houses, one longer than the other with two entry doors instead of one. The other sported the same high pitched roof design in a more compact form. They eased the car just into the carpark formed by a stretch of asphalt. They sat watching in quiet for a minute.

“I don't see any zed,” Oliver noted.

“Could be hiding in the woods ‘round this place,” Dennis countered.

“The windows are boarded up, so they've had trouble,” Rose stated and pointed to the shuttered openings. “Even the door window is covered.”

“Might also be marauders,” Dennis dourly commented.

His three companions turned to him.

“I've seen people more than willing to make a stiff of someone for whatever they got in the house,” he informed them. “Remember that place we saw on the edge of Queensferry? Those were shotgun blasts and not burn marks. Then we saw those wankers over in the flats.”

Oliver and Ronin nodded since the event in question predated Rose joining their band.

“Think these people might be armed?” Rose inquired, and she sounded concerned rather than hostile.

“Oh, I'd be willing to make a wager on that,” Oliver spoke first.

“Well, nothing to do but go see if they'd be willing to talk at least,” Dennis said. He handed his sword Ronin.

“Denny?” The man asked.

“What are the chances I won't get within twenty feet of that place when they chose to shoot ‘cause they can see my sword?”

No one answered his question.

“I call out to them three times. If I get no answer, we move,” he stated. “But keep sharp for zed and yell if you see or hear any.”

A general murmur of agreement rippled through the Volvo. Since no one offered a serious objection, Dennis got out of the car. He walked around to the front and scanned the larger of the two buildings. He then moved until he stood ten feet from the gate with his hands held up to show he did not bear arms.

“Hello!” He shouted. He waited. He shouted again: “Hello!”

“What'cher wanting?” A voice called back from a distance away without visibly revealing the owner.

“Have you seen people come this way? If you did, where did they go? We're looking for family.”

A long pause settled over the distance.

“Some folk be coming through now and once in a while. Always up to Glen Finglas Road. Never seen any return.”

“Is there a camp up there?” Dennis queried.

“How in bloody blazes would I know? I ain't never going up there with them things wandering ‘bout what'd sooner bite you than look at you!” The voice and, grizzled though it sounded, it bore some feminine hallmarks.

Dennis figured he learned just about as much as he would, so he yelled: “Thank you for your time and for the information. It's greatly appreciated.”

“That's it? That's all you want?”

“Yes, and thank you. Please, stay safe.”

He spun on one foot and walked back to the Volvo at a normal pace. His three companions looked as stunned as the voice sounded. Dennis lowered his hands, went around to the rear passenger door, and got in. Three faces gazed at him.

“Glen Fingerless Road... or something like that. Probably close by. Drive slow,” he informed them.

“Not going to ask anything else?” Rose questioned him.

“Probably wouldn't get much more information than that. Whoever that was would likely get spooked if I asked too much. This way she knows we mean no harm,” he answered and hoped the Wood brothers paid attention. “Drive.”

Oliver did as asked. They went around a small bend in the road, and a side road appeared. Just as predicted and told, Glen Finglas Road lay to their right. Oliver turned on the road. He did not drive very fast. The quartet scanned the area. One building boasted a faded sign announcing a tea room. A compact station wagon coated with debris and dust sat in the parking lot. Beyond that lay another building, but identifying the purpose became pointless. They could see a body shuffling around on the inside. Oliver applied a little more speed. More buildings came and went, and it became clear the area once supported a small community. Above all else, the group saw they now moved deeper into the wilderness.

“Should we really be heading into a park?” Rose inquired, and again her words did not come out as edgy.

“Probably less zed,” Oliver responded.

“More game, so... we should've gotten a bow somewhere,” Ronin quipped.

“Less zed means more magic,” Dennis offered.

“Oh, yeah,” the man sitting next to him mumbled.

Not far up the road they came to their first decision. One offshoot sat on the left and another further up on their right. Oliver stopped. They did not get out, and each looked around.

“It doesn't look like much on the left,” Dennis said since he got an unobstructed view.

Rose agreed, and Oliver drove up to the next turn off.

“Look,” Ronin said and point ahead. “The leave and branches on the right are broken, but not up ahead. Someone came this way at one point.”

“Nice observation, Ro,” Oliver said in a way only one brother can to another so it is an insult instead.

“Piss off,” Ronin muttered.

Oliver, however, turned right. Very quickly they lost sight of any vestige of civilization save for the road itself that lay in crumbling disrepair. The road twisted as it went along, at one point completing a horseshoe bend, but generally it took them further north. Dennis also thought it felt like they climbed in altitude a bit. Just after passing the two kilometer mark, another side road appeared. Ronin's earlier observational test proved handy once more. The path before them showed some sign of usage, whereas the road on their right looked covered with undisturbed natural detritus. At times they caught glimpses of a large body of water on their left. Dennis truly wished for a map to figure out their location.

At one point they came out of the forest into a wide clearing. To their right sat a low building, and on their left a lake or loch. Rose spotted a decaying sign stating it severed as a reservoir. A fork in the road presented itself, and the team got stumped. Oliver put the car into park, and they got out. Ronin's test did not seem to suffice since all passes appeared equally unused.

“Now which way to do we go?” Oliver queried no one in particular.

He did not get an answer since the other three spread out to make a serious inspection of their surroundings. All four finally gathered at the fork. They stood staring at it. The could not detect any immediately noticeable signs of any passing that way. Dennis turned in a slow circle and tried to take in as many details as he could. On his fifth rotation he finally spied an indicator. He stopped.

“Well?” Rose said and sounded frustrated.

“We go forward,” Dennis said.

“Why?” Oliver inquired.

“Because I see two pieces of trash in the bushes over there, and one of them isn't faded. Just noticed it,” he confessed.

“Might've blown in,” Ronin speculated.

“Sure, but from where?”

They looked around. Other than the empty building behind them that, for all intents and purposes looked tidy, they could find no other source for garbage. In the back of his mind, he gave a small thanks for the slovenly habits of most people.

Oliver shrugged and said: “Not much to go on, but at least it's some'in, isn't it?”

“I guess,” Rose mumbled. She led the walk back to the Volvo.

The foursome climbed in and headed in the chosen direction. The crossed a small bridge and found themselves traveling through a landscape long ago denuded of trees. A rough hillside climbed on the right as their path wound its way along a northeastern direction. For nearly another two kilometers the scenery did not change much, except the cardinal direction in which they faced as the road followed the contours of the ground. Yet another fork on the road caused them to halt.

They stood outside car after Oliver put it in part, but he did not turn off the motor.

“Right,” Ronin offered the first suggested.

Three heads turned toward him.

“First, you can see the bridge is giving out over the gulley there,” he said and pointed toward the northeast. “Second, the path on the right follows a river, and it's flowing, so it's got to start somewhere.”

“Why'd that make any diff, Ro?” Oliver pressed him.

“Means you'd always have clean water. Plus, it's on the leeward side, so you'd get rain if you was doing any farming.”

Dennis listened yet continued to study the terrain. A salient point gradually resolved itself in his mind. He noted the land rose on the right of the leftmost road and to the left on the rightmost. That meant they faced a small mountain. He let his eyes climb to the what he could see of the peak, and it did not seem very high. It was just high enough, however, so that he could not see clearly on either side. In the end, he liked what Ronin said, and it swayed him.

“Good point, Ronin,” Dennis said with a nod. “This is also a worn down mountain. Look how it rises on all sides. Doesn't really matter where we go since it'll probably go in a circle, but I like road on the right.”

The three men then glanced toward Rose.

“Don't look at me,” she said with a shrug. “I'm shit when it comes to directions out in the wild, and I hate camping holidays. Ruddy bugs and dirt and rain... bad food and being forced near people you don't like and who smell like the haven't bathed in days and days. No, thanks. I'll give camping a miss if you don't mind.”

Dennis could not stop the grin from spreading on his face. Most of his adult got spent in most of the conditions she mentioned. Furthermore, they often went days on end without washing either their bodies or clothes. He could not imagine how they smelled to others.

“Mysie's nae keen on it, either,” Oliver said. “Says we dinnae need to be ootside in some foreign place to burn food. Says we can burn it right proper at home.”

Ronin started to chuckle and rejoined: “Yeah, she don't like it one bit. I kind of enjoy it, though.”

They seemed to reach a decision, so the four went back to the car. Oliver turned right, and the foursome followed a path that appeared more for walking than driving. It grew narrow and repeatedly crossed over streams. Oliver kept them on it as it wound northward along the eastern face of the shallow mountain. For two and a half kilometers by Oliver's reckoning the car slogged down the road. Leaves and branches dotted the road, and Dennis began to watch the debris with interest. It did not block their path, but it made it appear less than inviting. At one point Oliver halted the vehicle.

“What ‘bout that road?” He asked, pointing to the left.

“That road doesn't go anywhere,” Rose stated as she craned her head to stare out the window and up the mountain. “You can just make out where it ends.”

“Lot of overgrowth, too... and a felled tree,” Ronin added.

“Well, can't drive down it then,” Oliver said and took his foot off the break.

“Wait, stop!” Dennis said while staring at the road. The vehicle rocked forward as it halted. “Doesn't that look... odd? I mean no other road looks like that.”

“What're you getting at, Denny?” Rose prodded him.

“That looks on purpose... like someone is trying to hide something.”

He did not wait for the approval of the others. Dennis grabbed his sword and stepped out of the vehicle. He reached back for his jacket, but Ronin tugged on the other end.

“Denny, what are you doing? It's just a river up there,” His friend asked.

“Maybe, but I know when something isn't quite right. It's what I'd do, but not so obvious. It's too much what with the trees falling over and all those needles and leaves,” he explained him. “I want to have a look at the top.”

“And zed?” Rose hotly queried.

“We haven't seen a zed since we left the main road, and that was over half an hour ago,” Dennis answered her. “Besides, a zed trying to walk through this scrub is going to get trapped. I'd hear it long before it ever got to me.”

His friends stared at him.

“Listen, Ollie just pull in and park. It won't take but a minute to have a look around, and that's all I want,” he specifically stated his intention.

As Dennis walked up the side road, Ollie drove the car in and parked. The engine went silent. Not long after his three companions stood with him staring at the side of the hill. In the back of his mind Dennis thanked Katie for helping reach this point. It did not matter where they found the camp, if it indeed existed, because it gave them a shared goal. They could spend a while searching and, hopefully, repairing the damage from the Crieff zed attack that cost them so dearly.

“Let's go look,” Dennis said while he eyed the surroundings, and it began to feel even more strange.

The road zigzagged in order to mitigate the steepness of the incline. The foursome walked the short road. In the distance they could hear the river gurgling through the gulch it carved over tens of thousands of years if not more. The amount of natural detritus increased the further up the hill they climbed. With each step Dennis became convinced the arrangement did not occur naturally. He started to grin and suppressed the desire to giggle. He feared that would alarm his friends. They reached the end of the road and stood staring at the river.

“Now why do you think a lovely path like this just... ends? It's not like the muggles didn't build bridges for other roads,” he said far too loudly for the immediate company of people.

“Denny…” Oliver started but stopped when Dennis raised his hand.

Dennis slid his sword between his belt and pants. The he reached in his jacket and pulled out his wand. He heard an audible intake of breath from his his friends. Dennis raised his wand and pointed it at the place where the road terminated. He thought for a moment, digging through his knowledge of spells. He needed one in particular, but on a larger scale. The wizard focused and held tightly to his wand.

“Aparecium... hic loco,” Dennis said as loudly as he could without shouting and maneuvered the wand in the way Professor Flitwick taught all those years before.

The air in front of him shimmered in an every widening cone. As it reached the edge of the riverbank, it went no further. Dennis begin to snicker as he applied more mental energy to his charm, forcing it become more powerful. He knew with certainty someone or something resisted it.

“Aparecium hic loco,” Ronin said, standing next to him.

A second charm wave drifted forward to join his. The air around the river edge quivered, distorting the images behind it. Dennis saw Ronin's effort widen as his friend also added more energy. Sparkles of light began to take shape around the combined spell.

“Aparecium,” Rose's voice rang out.

“Hic loco. Aparecium hic loco,” Dennis corrected her.

“Alright, alright,” she grunted and then said: “Aparecium hic loco!”

A third wave shot forward. Just as it touched the other two, the invisible fortification gave way. Dennis felt his mouth drop open as he raised his arms. Oliver, Ronin, and Rose did the same. Across the river, across a bridge artfully made invisible by a well-crafted spell, stood a row of seven people aiming rifles at them. Despite how good they might be at magic, Dennis thought, they would not be able to move faster than bullets. Anotherr person, an older man, moved between the troops and walked down across the bridge. He stopped at the edge within twenty feet of the foursome.

“Why are you attacking us?” He demanded, his dark eyes flashing, and a wand held at his side. “Who sent you?”

“Ah, no one, and, um, we're not attacking,” Dennis calmly if hesitantly told the man. “We... see, we're looking for a camp a friend of ours told us about... one with survivors from Edinburgh.”

The man narrowed his eyes. Dressed in long black robes and a knit wool hat, he appeared a serious person. A wand could be a highly formidable weapon in the right hand, but the seven firearms caused Dennis the most worry. Those would kill he and his friends in short order.

“You're from Edinburgh”

“Me, no, not person…”

“I am,” Oliver butted in. “From the New Haven district, and I'm looking for my wife and children.”

“Last name?” The man ordered.

“Wood... Oliver,” Oliver responded. “But my wife's name is Mysie, and my children are Rona, Cait, and Glen.”

The man lifted his free hand and made a strange gesture. One of the riffle bearers broke off and trotted up the hill. The person disappeared after a dozen or so steps. Dennis nodded slightly in appreciation of the finely wrought protection spell. It made him wonder why zed did not swarm the mountain since magic tended to attract them.

“Don't move while we check this out,” the man gruffly informed them.

“No problem there, mate,” Ronin hastily said.

Dennis giggled.

Time felt like it dragged while they stood with arms raised. Dennis kept his head still, but he let his eyes range. With the exception of the blatantly concealed bridge and trail, nothing else appeared out of place. Perhaps they overdid the disguise on purpose so the living might notice it. If not, then he thought, the needed to rethink their strategy. The more he scrutinized the location, the more he realized the brilliance of the positioning. They sat atop a hill surrounded by woods and scrub. Zed would make themselves known as they struggled through brush. The living would likely opt to use the road instead of trying to make their way through the scrub. He nodded again in appreciation.

“Oliver!” A woman's voice screamed from on high. “Oliver!”

“Mysie!” Oliver shouted at the top of his lungs. He dropped his mace and wand and went running toward her.

The man in the black robes stepped aside and did not block Oliver's path. The armed guards did the same for Mysie. Mysie, a woman with reddish-auburn hair flopping behind her in a long plait, the sallow skin common to true Scots everywhere, and eyes so blue as to almost be white careened toward Oliver. She bore the hints of motherhood with rounded hips and full bosom. She bounded down the side of the hill at full bore while Oliver ran as fast as he could in her direction. The collided and grappled with each to keep from falling. Oliver kissed his wife's face as if he went mad with want. She returned the gesture with equal fervor. Dennis felt his mouth turning upward.

The world got blotted out when a set of arms wrapped around him. Dennis heard heaving sobs, and he encircled his arms around Ronin. The man openly wept and kissed the side of his face several times.  
“Alive, Denny,” Ronin cried. “You... found them... alive.”

“Not me: us,” he rejoined and squeezed his friend in joy. After the events regarding Katie, Dennis did not understand how much he needed a happy ending for at least one person. “We did this together... and with Katie.”

Ronin hiccuped from crying as he held tightly to Dennis. He burbled his thanks over and over. Half a minute later he felt a hand patting on his back.

“You did good, Denny,” Rose said without acrimony or sarcasm. “Real good.”

Dennis freed one arm, reached around, and snagged the woman. Rose, ever fiery, he believed possessed a heart in equal measure. He clasped her to him so she, too, would feel the elation. In the background the could hear Oliver and Mysie rejoicing at their reunion. At long last Dennis felt a true spark of hope for the living.

They got admitted to the camp. Oliver went off with his wife to see the children, although Dennis saw Oliver crying at one point and with a look of rampant grief. He feared for the news they would surely learn later. Inside the camp, protected by a vast number of spells, they found a somber but steadfast population of people rescued for all over the Scottish lands. They accepted nearly everyone who managed to find the place. Dennis learned they controlled the entire mountain within the boundaries of the encircling road. The built houses, halls, and venues from timber scavenged throughout The Trossachs. They grew crops, raised animals, and managed to hammer out a life on the mountain called Meall Cala.

Dennis, Ronin, and Rose got processed. The rules required them to give up their wands as a precautionary measure, but with a promise of return if they headed outside of the encampment. Since Dennis spent so much time living without the use of magic because of the effect it produced in the zed, he did not mind at all. Ronin and Rose appeared more put out by the request, but eventually complied. It seemed odd to Dennis they did not need to give up their other weapons. Afterward, they got debriefed both individually and as a group. Scribes took notes and seemed especially interested in the people living in Delator and Tomintoul. They also asked a lot of questions about the condition of Edinburgh. Even when debriefed together, Oliver remained absent as he spent time reuniting with his family.

When evening started to arrive, torches got lit and the yellow flames spread a warm glow along the paths. A guide led them, pointing out the various amenities, few though in number, and explained with which supplies they could avail themselves. The camp proved surprisingly expansive. Then they learned the most astonishing news of all: the camp hosted muggle and magic user alike. Their hosts explained they could no longer afford to obey the secrect statute when so many got destroyed by the zed because of it. Dennis, Ronin, and Rose exchanged quiet looks of bewilderment. As they walked along, Dennis debated the issue in his head and could not fault their logic. After quite a while they halted in front of a rough hewn house made of stout timber lashed together and the chinks daubed with mud and wild grass. He could see no windows.

“This is where the Wood family lives,” their female guide told them. “They're waiting for you.”

“Thanks,” Ronin eager said.

“Mysie will help see to any of your needs. We will talk again over the next few days. There's a lot about this place you need to understand,” she told them.

“I'll say,” Rose quipped.

“We look forward to it,” Dennis remarked with more civility.

“Be well,” the woman said and left them standing on their own.

Ronin did not wait and thumped his fist against the door. It flew open, and Mysie appeared. She snagged Ronin and engulfed him in an enormous hug. The two began to weep in unison as they rambled on about how the did not think they would see each other alive again and how glad it turned out otherwise. Rose nudged Dennis with her shoulder. He glanced at her. She smiled and winked at him. He did the same. After a minute of Mysie and Ronin hanging onto each other for dear life, Oliver's wife let him go. She roughly shoved him into house. Ronin's voice rang out in greeting to his brother and the children. Mysie stalked up to Dennis and Rose. She seized each by an arm.

“I owe ye my world,” the woman said as tears leaked down her face. “Ye brought my Oliver to me. Gave our children their father back. I cannae ever repay that.”

“You don't have to,” Dennis said through a throat grown tight. “It's what any decent person would do.”

“This idiot thinks it's his job to save everyone,” Rose grumbled, but her eyes sparkled.

“Then we needs more idiots like him,” Mysie blared, and the she caught both of them in an outrageously tight hug “Ye have my gratitude forever, and count yerselves as one of us!”

Mysie cried, and so did the two she held. Dennis thought she smelled like mountain air as he buried his face in her shoulder and accept her thanks. They held each other for a long while, each mumbling without paying attention to what the other said. When they pulled apart a bit, and Mysie did not let them go, a look of raw pain seized the woman's features.

“So ye know,” she whispered in a hoarse voice. “We lost our Cait to typhus some months back. She... we couldn't stop it. Oliver is sick with himself for not being here. If, maybe, ye could say something to him.”

“I'm so sorry. We will,” Rose said with earnest and honest feeling.

Dennis nodded his head in sympathy, and he understood the expression he saw on Oliver's face earlier in the day.

“But it's a happy day noo ye're all here,” Oliver's wife said and tried to sound chipper. “Ye brought Ro back, too, so even better. Now, there's a man and some young ones in there who've got a lot to tell ye. I'll whip up a bit for ye to eat. This is yer home now, if ye'll have it, and I won't be taking no for an answer.”

Dennis bobbed his head again as he felt his voice would not work properly. The joy and sadness combined in the single form of Mysie Wood astounded him. She bore herself as a true woman of Scotland, and felt as solid as the mountain on which they stood. The woman appeared in nearly every way an equal and good match for the rough and tough Oliver Wood. It all made sense to Dennis. Mysie guided Rose through the entryway of the home with the flat of her hand on Rose's back. Rose stumbled in and got met by cries of greeting. Mysie held Dennis back. He looked at her with questions in his eyes.

“Oliver says it was ye who got this done. Said when he didn't have hope, ye had more than enough to spare. Said ye never failed in believing ye'd find us,” Mysie said in as stern voice.

“I did what I could... what I'd want another to do for me,” Dennis replied and his voice came out heavy and thick.

“He blames hisself for all this.”

“I know, and he's wrong. I think he saved your lives when he went out that window.”

“Aye, then ye know the truth of it. Help him see it ‘fore it eats him to nothing,” she all but begged. “Those children need him. I need him...”

“I need him as well, Mysie. He's a true and loyal friend, as is Ronin,” Dennis added to the multitude of reasons why he would never stop searching for Oliver's family. “They kept me alive, too, so it goes both ways.”

Mysie reached up and patted his face in a matronly manner. She smiled. Her eyes twinkled with torch as she said: “Don't be too modest Dennis Creevey. Ye did a job fit for the finest of wizards, man or woman alike, and it will never, ever be forgotten. Ye'll be in my heart always ‘cause you saved it from breaking. Take pride in what ye did, Dennis. Take full pride!”

“I'll try.”

“Now get in there and get ye're fill of the thanks ye got coming to ye,” she ordered him and began to drag him into the house.

“Yes, ma'am,” he said through a chuckle, but nerves played no part in his reaction.

Much later that night as he sat in a corner with a blanket over his legs, exhausted from the reverie of the Wood clan, but his mind could not settle. Joy at finding Oliver's family still ran through him, along with sorrow that Cait and Katie did not live to see the day. His mind continually bent toward Katie Bell and all she told him. He stared into the dim recesses of the house. The fireplace gave off the only illumination. He could hear people sleeping, snoring from nearly all parts of the upper loft. Against all probability Dennis felt safe yet disconcerted. Despite being comfortable dressed in the sweatpants and shirt he took form the shop in Edinburgh, he could not calm his brain. He sighed.

“And now?” He whispered into the gray void between him and the fire.

“Now what?” A voice answered.

“Cripes!” Dennis half shouted, and then slapped his hand over his mouth for fear he woke the others.

Ronin moved along side him the dark, and Dennis never noticed as his guard got let down because of the surroundings. His heart thudded in his chest. To remedy the shock he felt, Dennis reached out and punched Ronin in the shoulder.

“Ow,” the man complained.

“Give guy a warning next time,” he grumbled at his friend.

“Heard you rustling around, and I thought you heard walking over here!”

In the pale orange glow of the fire, Dennis could not see anger on Ronin's face. Ronin sat down next to him, their backs against the wall in the makeshift dining area. The table and benches got pushed to one side to create sleeping space. Rose slept up in the loft. Oliver and Mysie slept as husband and wife again, and Dennis suspected the children lay curled around them.

“Thought you'd be dead asleep after the day we had,” Ronin commented.

“Thought I would, too, but... didn't turn out exactly as I hoped,” Dennis responded.

“Katie?”

Dennis nodded.

An arm slipped around his shoulders in a companionable manner and Ronin said: “I know you'll do it anyway, but you can't take all that on yourself, Denny. We all knew the risks. No one ever said we'd make it here alive. Even you couldn't promise that.”

He shrugged because Dennis thought he did just that. The arm tightened around his shoulders.

“She'd be happy and proud we made it, know that?”

Dennis sat perfectly still. His emotions started to bubble in his gut, and he could not guarantee they would not spill over. His friend rocked him a bit.

“Denny, you saw the look on those kid's faces. Look at Mysie,” Ronin half-chided him. “Hell, look at me. I got back most of my kin and I still have my best mate, so I'm counting this a win all the way around. Yeah, sure, it's right shitty what went on with Katie, but... it's a hell of price and not entirely worth it, but worth it all the same. Does that make sense?”

“Strangely enough it does. Nothing is ever free is it?” Dennis responded.

Thoughts of his brother Colin crossed through his mind. He recalled hearing about the dead lined up in the great hall of Hogwarts after the battle with Voldemort. Those people, Dennis reminded himself, willingly stood up to the tyranny of one person. They became the cost of casting Voldemort and his cronies down. No one he ever talked to after the battle decried the losses. There names got honored, including Colin's, as protectors of all things good and right about the wizarding world. Dennis sighed.

“So what else is keeping you up, hero of the Wood clan?” Ronin asked and teasing.

“First, shut up with that hero crap,” Dennis snapped in a playful manner, “and... and I think I know what I have to do next.”

“Find that necklace?”

“No, that's next, though. I've got to find something a little more important.”

After ten seconds, Ronin nudged him.

“I've got to find Dean Thomas. I don't know why, but it's really important, Ro. I can feel it in my marrow,” Dennis told him. “I need to do this for Katie, too.”

“Right. I hear you,” Ronin quietly acknowledged. “So when do we leave?”

“No, Ronin. You're home, so no. You can't tear yourself away from here now that you and Oliver found Mysie and the children. They need their uncle as much as their father,” Dennis rejected the offer.

“Know when Rose says it's like how Oliver says go fack yourself?”

“I'm serious, Ronin. This could be far more dangerous, and I sure as hell wouldn't put you in that position!” Dennis railed, albeit quietly, at friend.

“You're not putting me in any position, Denny!” Ronin blurted at him. “Ever think for one minute maybe, just maybe, we got here ‘cause you worked with others and led them through some tough shit you might not've been able to handle alone? Did you really do this on your own?”

“Of course I didn't!”

“Then how the fack do you think you're going to find a person you hardly know anything about who may be Merlin knows where... if he's even alive... all by yourself?”

Dennis opened his mouth to argue, and then he closed it. He slumped a bit. His friend squeezed his shoulder.

“'Sides, mate, I've sort of gotten used to tramping ‘round places with you,” Ronin softly said. “Don't know if I could get used to sitting in one spot for too long now. Plus, you still need to show me how to use the mace right, and I could probably use some sword lessons as well. Can't let all that special learning the ghosts gave you go to waste.”

“What do you mean go to waste?”

Ronin snickered.'

“This is going to be a lot more difficult, Ro. We'd be going to places I never set foot in, and probably neither have you,” Dennis said as his mind settled on what he might face. “Katie said Dean got into something pretty tricky, not exactly what, but it scared her enough so she took to the road going after him. She asked me to go with her looking for him. Did you know that?”

“She said she might, but I didn't know she got around to it,” his friend confirmed Dennis suspected. “So what do you think we're going to find ‘cept more zed?”

“Honestly?”

“Honestly,” Ronin repeated.

“I really don't know,” Dennis replied. Then he started to giggle.


End file.
